Dengen Yoroi-do
by MarsAres
Summary: It's a new school year for the girls of Ooarai, however relations between Japan and China are not at their best, and the threat of nuclear war is at its highest since the Cold War. Are the girls of the Tankery Club safe from these threats? And what would they do if the bombs did fall?
1. Happy Times

**Chapter 1: Happy Times**

* * *

"Reports continue to come through that relations with China continue to sour."

Miho reached across the desk to grab her mouse and clicked mute on the livestream of today's news. She hated to hear about the war. Her only affiliations with war went as far as practicing Tankery with the armoured vehicles she commanded and she wanted to keep it that way. War was a horrible thing.

Not that it was officially a war. A lot of people called it a war, but government officials were insistent to refer to it as "rising tensions", "the dislike the two countries felt for each other was just at it's highest in several decades".

Most of the public bought it, but not Miho. She was schooled to be a military strategist for God's sake, she knew and saw the signs. And then there was the establishment of that new branch from an American company. What we're they called again?

Vault-Tec. That was it. Maho had told her about it. She had looked into them but couldn't find much since all the articles on them we're in English. But their sudden arrival was a little suspect.

She went back to her notebook that she was scribbling in. She was meant to be evaluating the performance of the teams, but got a little bored and started to sketch a little Boko face in the corner of the page. She leant back in her chair with a sigh and added a few more creases too his eye patch. The drawing didn't look great in pen, but it still looked cute regardless.

She did a quick scan over the performance stats of the teams she had calculated so far. Turtle Team were performing adequately. Momo's shooting was still some of the wort she'd ever seen, and with only three crew members they were a little slow in some aspects, but despite that they could be a hell of a lot worse. The girls of Turtle Team had stayed at Oarai for senior high school education, and Anzu had managed to be elected as student council president for a fourth year in a row.

Rabbit Team were performing better than ever. Their kill rate was a little low but she put that down to the smaller caliber guns on the M3 Lee more than anything. What she was impressed by was the efficiency in which the team communicated and worked together. Azusa was really showing off her skills as a commander. Thinking ahead for the future, since Miho was now in her third year, she was contemplating appointing Azusa as vice-commander to take over when she potentially left next year.

Leopon Team were amazing, though that needing the word 'considering' next to it, circled twenty times. The Tiger (P) was just as unreliable as ever, but goddamn the automotive club somehow managed to keep it running and were actually effective with it.

Duck Team were... not great. Miho hated to admit it. The volleyball club were such lovely girls who loved their Type 89, but the damn thing with its pathetic armour and pea-shooter of a cannon was only contributing to the Tankery club by boosting their numbers. She couldn't imagine how any other team would've performed in it, that tank was made for Duck Team.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the livestream change scenes and glanced up. It immediately grasped her attention when she saw her Panzer IV, complete with the Anglerfish Team sigil, rolling across a field. She grabbed her mouse and unmuted the feed.

"-Girls High School. It's going to be really interesting to see how they're going to perform in the 64th High School Senshado Tournament!"

Miho then realised it was a clip of their match against Saunders, as the camera panned to show Alisa's Sherman, the Saunders flag tank, desperately trying to run away from them. She couldn't help but smile as she watched it, remembering the thrill of the match, and the tension as Hana lined up her shot to take out the flag tank while the Firefly was doing the same to them.

And her smile grew bigger still to the point she was grinning. A year ago, she was glad to be rid of Tankery, a year ago she was excited to start a new school year independently. Now she was excited to see what challenges this upcoming school year would bring to her hardened Tankery team that had worked so hard to save the school they all loved. Twice.

How things change so quickly.

In fact, as she was thinking of how her school had been saved a second times, she remembered that she had promised Alice she would give her a call. She muted the news feed again, they were just talking about the performances from the last tournament and how the teams might compare now that everyone had learned not to underestimate a team just because they have fewer numbers.

She brought up her list of contacts on her phone and flicked through then until she found Alice, then called her. The phone wasn't ringing for long before she picked up.

"H-hello, miss Nishizumi," Alice was still relatively shy, especially over the phone. She preferred to talk face-to-face but Miho considered it an improvement that she was now actually saying "hi" when she picked up the phone.

"Hi Alice," Miho responded with a chuckle. "How many times have I told you, you can just call me Miho!" she was careful to say that with a hint of sweetness to not make it sound like she was annoyed, which she wasn't, she was being patient with getting Alice to open up. "How are you, anyway?"

"Not great. I still feel little sick from the boat when I came to visit you."

Oh yeah, Miho remembered that Alice got sea sick easily.

"Oh that's horrible. I hope it doesn't turn you down from picking a school to transfer to. You seemed alright when you made it onto the carrier itself. And trust me, a few weeks at sea, you get pretty used to it!"

Alice actually laughed a little. A quiet, timid laugh. More of a giggle.

"Oh I don't doubt it," she said, then paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to say next, she didn't want to have to rely on Miho to carry the conversation again. "So... uh... how are _you_ doing miss Nishi- uh, Miho?"

Miho smiled at the cute but clearly effort-full attempts Alice was making. She was happy she could get her to open up more.

"Well," she sighed, "I'm meant to be comparing all my teams' statistics to make sure they're performing well, but I'm just procrastinating it. I like Tankery but not enough to want to do all this paperwork!"

"Oh if you need help on how to gather data on teammates I can give you a few tips. I had to evaluate my tanks all the time."

"Sure!" Miho didn't actually think she needed help, Alice commanded a team of 30 tanks and probably shared the workload with the commanders of the Bermuda commanders, Miho only needed to worry about eight tanks. But if it meant it could get Alice to keep talking to help boost her confidence she was more than happy to listen.

The two chatted for a while longer. Miho sketched little more of her Boko drawing, adding fuzz to the edges and trying - but failing because she was using a pen - to add a little bit of shading. It kind of ruined the drawing a little but she didn't mind. She wondered if she should draw more in her spare time.

She snapped back to the discussion as she heard Alice finish her pointers. "And... yeah... that's pretty much it."

"Thanks, Alice! I should probably get back to work now."

"OK. Thanks for talking to me, Miho."

"It's OK, really! I enjoy our talks. Bye."

"Goodbye."

Miho hung up the phone. She meant what she said. She really did enjoy their talks together. She leaned forwards at her desk, tapped her pen against on the surface a couple of times, unmuted the news and then went back to work.

* * *

Yukari was in her room, also at her desk. She was being very careful, summoning all of her willpower to get keep completely steady, she was gripping her right wrist with her left hand, sweat pouring down her forehead.

Her 1/25 model of the twin-turret 7TP had to be perfect. If the paint job on this turned out as a well as she wanted, this was going at the front of her model lineup. All of her practice in painting the Tiger, the Sturmtiger, Panzer IV and Firefly led up to this moment to make this model perfect.

* * *

Saori cursed as she realised the vegetables were starting to burn in the frying pan. She had been paying too much attention to the broth, and forgot she needed to check on them. She quickly took the frying pan off the hob and turned it off.

She had got a lot better at cooking lately, when she didn't burn the food. She wanted to cook for her friends again some day, she liked it when people enjoyed her food, it made her happy to know she had pleased others with it, and it gives them full bellies to boot!

* * *

Hana was arranging some flowers in a little vase on her bedside table. A few Wisterias, nothing too fancy, but she wanted some of her favourite flowers beside her when she slept. She heard the rustling of paper from her front door. She finished her arrangement and then went to check on the noise, having a strong suspicion of what it was, with a tinge of excitement.

She picked up the letter that had been pushed through the mail slot and opened it. She pulled out what was inside it and stifled her excitement lest she turn into Yukari when she saw a tank. It was just what she was waiting for! An anti-tank chart! It was a replica of the kind that soldiers used in World War 2. A piece of cardboard had a column of diagrams of some of the most common German tanks fought, with the sides, front or rear darkened to show if they were vulnerable at the range indicated at the bottom of the column.

There were a few of these columns arranged side by side, each one at a further range. Another cardboard sleeve allowed the first piece to be slid in and out, with a little window cut out on the sleeve so the gunner could concentrate on the relevant column.

But the units of measurement were in some weird unit used in Europe. She took out her phone to start searching the net for conversion rates.

* * *

Mako was sleeping.

* * *

Rabbit Team were sat on a sofa, munching away at popcorn and other sweet treats with the film Fury playing on the TV in front of them. It had been mentioned and agreed several times that they were glad they didn't have foot soldiers to worry about in Tankery. They were watching the crew take on the Tiger. Azusa squealed when she saw the tank commander disappear from being hit by the Tiger's cannon. The rest of the girls turned to her to see her covering her mouth.

"Azusa, it's just a movie," Aya giggled.

"I know," Azusa responded. "That was just... that was... That just made me appreciate that we use fake shells in Tankery."

"What do you think would happen if you did get hit, Azusa?" Yuuki asked.

"I think miss Nishizumi once explained to me that Tankery shells are especially made to disperse all their energy out the back the moment they feel themselves make contact, so minimum damage is suffered by whatever is hit," Azusa explained. "So as long as you don't get hit in the face or from point blank range you should be OK."

"Guys, I'm trying to watch the film!" Karina hissed.

* * *

Duck Team were busy hand painting their own posters to advertise the volleyball club. With new freshmen coming in when school started again in a few days, they were determined to get some members on board to get it restarted! They already had a couple of students show interest; they had even arranged to meet up with them for a match! The next academic year was going to be great!

* * *

"If you're sure... Sign here, please," the representative slid the contract across the table, a pen going along for the ride.

Anzu picked up the pen and uncapped it. She took a moment to admire the logo at the top of the paper. She thought it looked like a gear, Momo thought it looked like a bullseye. Either way, she took fascination in it for some reason, she admired its simplistic design. She signed the contract with her signature.

Turtle Team were in the student council offices.

* * *

Most of Hippo Team were in their share home. Saemonza, Oryou and Caeser were kneeling around their table. Saemonza was checking her bow for damage on her trip back from staying with her parents for the last few weeks of summer. Oryou was reading a book, and Caeser was on her laptop sending messages back and forth with Carpaccio.

The sound of rattling keys could be heard. Everyone looked up from their activities, then between each other, smiles growing on their faces. Then quickly, Oryou closed her book with a _thump_ , Saemonza put her bow on the table and Caeser closed her laptop, and they all stood up, excitedly heading for the door. Before the person on the other side had a chance to slip their key into the lock, Saemonza unlocked it and wrenched it open.

"Erwin!" the three girls exclaimed.

"The Desert Fox has returned!" Erwin said, hands on her hips, a suitcase by her side.

Saemonza flung herself onto Erwin for a hug, which took her by surprise and she nearly toppled over.

"How's everyone been?" Erwin asked over Saemonza's shoulder.

"It's been quiet without you,"Oryou responded. "How are your parents?"

"They're fine," Saemonza had let Erwin go by this point, and she reached over to take the handle of her suitcase. "My mum made me a late birthday cake shaped like a StuG."

"Oh, that sounds cool!" Caeser said.

"Yeah. I gotta unpack now, guys. I'll be down later!"

* * *

Mallard Team, along with the rest of the Student Morals Committee, were at the school. The Committee office was filled with Sodoko's helmet-haired clones, tending to their duties and responsibilities, they were preparing for the start of next semester. Sodoko was looking at a list of newly enrolled students to add them to her database on her tablet; another several hundred names to remember and reprimand for being late through the gate.

Her phone message tone suddenly went off in her pocket.

"Who's texting me while I'm working?" she grumbled and pulled out her phone.

It was from the student council president. She read the text message. Then she read it again. And again.

She stood up from her seat and raised her voice to address the entirety of the Committee.

"Ladies," she started. "We have a new responsibility. Panzomi, I need you to print some things off for me. We're going to be busy this year."

* * *

Anteater Team were playing their tank videogame. They hadn't missed each other over the summer, they had consistently kept in verbal contact and played with each every day.

"What the hell!" Nekota exclaimed.

"What happened, Nekonya?" Momoga said over her headset.

A moment of silence before Nekota answered.

"That platoon is so good!" she finally said. "I just watched the killcam, that shot was ridiculous!"

"Oh, you mean the Fiends?" Piyotan asked. "Yeah, they're a well known clan in the community."

"Wait, what's that?" Momoga asked.

"That's... a bomb," Piyotan saw it in the game's sky too.

The large bomb was easily visible in the clear sky. Anyone watching it through their tanks rangefinder could see the logo of the Fiends clan on the side. It collided with the ground and caused a completely blinding light before everyone within the game map was greeted with a death screen.

"This game's balance has gone to hell," Nekota said.

* * *

On the training grounds on the Ooarai campus, Suzuki and Nakajima were grunting as they pulled the garage doors open on their sliders.

"They're still there!" Tsuchiya confirmed excitedly.

Nakajima slipped inside the garage.

"One, two..." she counted, "seven, eight. Yep that's all of them!"

Nakajima ran over to the Tiger (P).

"Oh, I've missed you!" she said, running her hand along the side of the dusty chassis.

"I never thought I'd miss that hunk of junk," Hoshino said, sauntering over to the Tiger with the rest of Leopon Team. "But it's good to see her again."

The rest of the team agreed.

"Alright, girls," Nakajima turned to the rest of the Automotive Club, "We need to make sure all the tanks are in working order for when we start practicing again!"

"Next year is going to be great!" Suzuki said excitedly. "We can just practice and compete in matches without having to worry about the school shutting down or anything!"

"YEAH!" they all shouted, and ran over to the pile of tools in the corner of the garage.

* * *

Miho smiled and sat back in her chair again. She massaged her hand, she was getting cramp from all the writing. But she was done now, at last. Her phone made a noise to tell her she had a text message. She picked it up and unlocked it to read it.

It was from Nakajima, Leopon's commander. She was texting to tell her all the tanks were in top condition! Well, other than the Tiger (P), but that went without saying.

 _That's great!_ , she started to type a response. _Thanks for taking the time, Nakajima. I really appreciate it!_

She sent it. And then she smiled again. Her next year at school was looking to be her best yet.


	2. Maybe

**Chapter 2: Maybe**

* * *

 _1 week later..._

 _BEEP_ -

Miho threw her pillow at the alarm clock before it had a chance to get annoying. That shut it up. She vaulted out of bed, got dressed in her school uniform for the first time since the summer holidays and folded the covers on her bed. She hadn't attended Kuromorimine in over a year but she still kept to that habit.

She had a quick breakfast, grabbed her bag and left her apartment. She remembered to lock the door and double check it this time. Then she started her way to school, a very slight spring in her step and a very _big_ smile on her face.

The familiar smell of fresh bread welcomed her as she passed the baker's on her way to school, just like it had on her first day to Ooarai. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, Autumn weather wasn't setting in quite yet. The day really was starting off-

"Mipori-i-i-i-i-in!"

That wasn't a call of welcome. There was strain in that shout. Miho could hazard a pretty good guess why. She turned around and... yep, she was right. Saori was half carrying, half dragging Mako along the pavement.

"Hi, Saori," Miho giggled.

"Hi, Miho," Saori grunted in return. "Could you give me a hand?"

Miho was already making her way towards them to grab Mako's other arm. It was just like old times, and Miho wouldn't have had it - or wanted it - any other way.

* * *

The girls were a little surprised to find that it wasn't Sodoko at the front gate. It was Gomoyo... or was it Pazomi? A different Morals Comittee member? Whatever. Miho and Saori gave a passing "hi" and headed through the gates. Mako was now making an effort to carry herself, seeing as there was no Sodoko for her to wind up.

They had forgotten the oddity pretty much as soon as they made their way through the school's front doors. Miho and Saori gave their farewells to Mako and headed for their first class of the day.

"So anyway. Miporin," Saori started, relieved she could now start talking to Miho properly without Mako distracting them, "how have you been?"

"I've been doing great, Saori," Miho responded truthfully. "I've really been able to relax since the battle with Selection was over."

"That's great! You really deserved a couple weeks to yourself, you were working so hard! I was slightly worried about you, if I'm honest."

"Really?" Miho chuckled. "I was doing just fine."

"But still, Miporin, all that stress wasn't good for you. Trust me, it was a good thing you got some time off."

Miho contemplated telling her that, although she had been relaxing, her idea of stress relief was theory crafting small unit strategies, watching professional Tankery matches and collecting data on the whole team's performance and evaluating it. She decided against it.

"What about you, miss Takebe," Miho finally asked. "How did the summer break treat you?"

"I've been cooking a lot more. Healthier as well! I think I might've lost weight!"

Miho looked her up and down, wondering if she could even afford to lose it.

"Saori, have you been reading magazines again?"

"Err..." there was a very obvious pause. Miho could see Saori's eyes stare into space as she put all of her brain power into making an excuse. "Yes; butonlytheone!" she finally blurted out.

Miho sighed exaggeratedly and rolled her eyes.

* * *

The pair met up with Hana in their class later, and further friendly exchanges were made as they caught up with each others happenings. They had agreed to go to the tank garages for lunch that day so they could see the tanks for the first time since they left for the summer break.

Finally, lessons started, and the girls got on with their first day back at school. Towards the end of the lesson, the door to the classroom opened, and Anzu, flanked by her trusty PR manager and vice-president, strolled in.

Miho smiled at the sight of her. It was good to see Anzu again, and by the looks of it she hadn't changed a bit, not even added a much needed inch to her height. But then her smile disappeared when she wondered what she was doing here. The last time Anzu came into the same classroom as Miho on the first day of school with the rest of the council... her life had changed. To top it off, Anzu's usual bag of sweet potatoes wasn't there, replaced instead by a stack of papers, while Yuzu held an even bigger pile. Just how serious could this be?

"Miss Kadotani," the teacher interrupted the council's arrival frustratingly. "It is most inappropriate for you to-"

"Sorry, sensei," Anzu interrupted, not even turning to look at the teacher; though the apology was delivered very halfheartedly, "But this is more important. In fact, it even concerns you."

"How _dare_ you interrupt a-"

"Save it," Anzu turned to the teacher, an expression of confidence on her face, "I've been given special authority to enter classrooms at my discretion."

A flicker of a change in Yuzu's expression suggested to Miho that Anzu's last statement wasn't entirely true.

Anzu turned to face the class again, the teacher's face completely shocked by the nerve of this student. As soon as she started talking Yuzu started to distribute a piece of paper to every desk in the classroom with someone sat behind it, including the teacher.

"Alright, ladies," Anzu started. "We have some pretty important documents for you to sign today. This is mandatory, we can't risk you ignoring it, so we're getting you and the other classes to sign them today, and this way we can process them faster."

Miho hadn't heard Anzu talk this seriously since she finally told her that the school would be shut down if they didn't win the tournament during the battle with Pravda. Yuzu finally passed by her to give her a copy of the forms. She twisted around to look behind her and saw Saori and Hana's eyes fixed on them. Miho turned back around, grabbed the paper with one hand and cut out the rest of the world around her to give it her full, undivided attention.

* * *

 _THREATS OF NUCLEAR ATTACK?_

 _Protect yourself and your family now!_

 _With a secure underground vault by Vault-Tec_

 _The threat of nuclear devastation in always on the horizon. We at Vault-Tec understand this and take action to prepare you for the future! Vault-Tec vaults are hand crafted and designed to provide comfort and safety to all residents in times of nuclear peril!_

 _* Up to 2000 person capacity, wait out the apocalypse with friends and family!_

 _* Common rooms complete with bars, games and other forms of sociable entertainment!_

 _* Self sustaining communities can keep the vault operational for up to 900 years!_

 _* 5 foot thick concrete and lead walls keep you safe from the radiation outside!_

 _* Decorative wallpaper, themed rooms and clean air ventilation!_

 _* Personal and communal bedrooms, you don't have to sleep alone in these dark times!_

 _Don't be a fool, enlist today! Your local vault is_ _ **Vault 131**_ _located at_ _ **Ooarai, Higashiibaraki District, Ibaraki Prefecture**_ _._

 _Name:_

 _Age:_

 _Address:_

 _Your leaflet guide on what to do during the apocalypse will arrive shortly after submitting your form!_

 _Good luck out there!_

* * *

At the top of the form was a strange logo, something that looked like a gear with three wings coming off of it on either side. In the bottom left corner the text was wrapping around what seemed to be a mascot, a cartoony stout boy with flowing hair, left hand on his waist, right hand extended outward with his thumb up, his left eye closed and a big grin on his face. It was kind of cute, actually.

Miho read the form again, unsure of what to think of it. Was the threat of a nuclear attack really so high? Maybe. And from whom? China?

She looked up from her desk straight at Anzu, who with that deadpan, serious expression and her stance, with both hands on her hips and her feet spread, topped off with the lack of sweet potatoes, looked really imposing. It reminded Miho of the day the council had called her to their office when she chose incense as her elective.

Anzu caught Miho looking at her. She stared back, straight into her eyes, and with a raised voice to address the whole class, not breaking her gaze from Miho, she said, "It is essential that you all sign these forms. This is not optional."

Miho looked back down at the form and shakily picked up her pen. Part of her didn't want to sign it, she didn't want to believe that a nuclear attack was so likely that they were printing out forms with cartoon mascots to take citizens' details.

She looked behind her. Saori was scribbling on the form, her lip quivering and her eyes slightly glazed. Hana was also signing the form, with a... mostly more composed state. Her face looked calm and collected, but her left hand was shaking.

Miho turned back around and looked at Anzu again. Her stance nor her expression had changed. Anzu looked at Miho, and just gave a single, slight nod. Miho took a deep breath and signed the form.

* * *

The atmosphere was tense. After the council collected the forms and asked to see those in their office that refused to sign the form, the lesson continued somewhat as normal. The teacher tried to keep up his authoritative attitude but it was obvious he was a little shaken too.

In the halls on their way to the cafeteria, Miho, Saori and Hana spotted many other students with glum attitudes. The student council had obviously been to see them during their lessons. They didn't say anything to each other on their way.

The trio ordered their food to go and went straight to the tank garages. Finally, Saori broke the silence.

"You guys don't actually believe that we're in danger of a nuclear attack, do you?" secretly Saori herself somewhat believed it, or she wouldn't have signed the form.

"I... I don't know... Maybe," Miho responded, her head hanging. "I mean... China's not exactly on good terms with us right now, and North Korea one day might figure out how to make missiles that can actually make it over the sea, but... I didn't think it was bad enough that they'd start building vaults!"

"I've never even heard of Vault-Tec," Hana said, her tone as calm as ever. "Who are they?"

"Some kind of American company that are supposed experts in nuclear technology," Miho said, paraphrasing what she remembered her sister telling her.

"So what are they doing here?" Saori asked.

"Building vaults, apparently," Hana responded. "Did you guys see the construction site at Ooarai?"

"No," the other two responded in unison.

"I saw it when I was passing through town a few weeks ago. They had already dug it out just outside of the town's outskirts."

"So what, if there's warning of a nuclear attack we have to run into the vault?!" Saori almost shouted.

"It looks like it," Hana said, putting her finger to her chin.

"That's horrible! I can't live underground! It'll be all dark and cold... and we wouldn't see the sun! We could get vitamin D deficiency!"

"But miss Takebe, if bombs start dropping you won't have a choice," Miho said.

"Oh boy," Saori whined.

By this point, the girls were halfway across the concrete training grounds outside the garages. From within the garage, Yukari was waiting. She couldn't wait to see the tanks again after being away from them, she felt like she was coming home to her family after being away from home for so long.

She was sitting on top of the Panzer IV, both arms wrapped around the barrel. From outside the open garage doors she saw three familiar figures walking across the grounds. Her face lit up, she leapt down from the IV and ran up to the opening in the building. She cupped her hands together over her mouth and shouted, "Nishizumi-dono!" and started waving.

Miho heard the call and looked at the garage. Knowing that voice all too well, she couldn't help but have her spirits lifted hearing Yukari's cute excited attitude again. She waved back.

"It's Yukari!" Saori beamed, her mood also enlightened. "She beat us to the tanks!"

"Are you really so surprised?" Hana chuckled.

"No, I guess I'm not," Saori giggled back.

Yukari went back over to the Panzer IV where she had left her bag propped against. Knowing all too well what these three were here for, she opened her bag and pulled out her packed lunch, ready to join them.

"Hi, Yukari!" Saori said as soon as she saw her again as the trio entered through the doors.

"Hello Saori, Hana, miss Nishizumi," Yukari responded. "It's good to see you all again!"

"You too, Yukari," Miho giggled.

They heard chatter behind them and they turned to see more of the Ooarai Tankery club teams arriving. Hippo, Rabbit, Duck, Anteater and Leopon team were all walking across the grounds, carrying their lunches, even Mako had shown up. Mallard and Turtle were absent.

The Tankery club were - mostly - reunited, and they all exchanged their inevitable greetings. They finally sat down at, near or on their team's respective tanks to eat their lunch. Seeing their friends again made everyone happy.

Until towards the end of the lunch break, when Erwin approached Anglerfish team.

"Commander," her hands were in her jacket's pockets, and her tone and expression were stern, "Did the Student Council visit your class today?"

Miho was surprised to be approached for a question like this.

"Um..." she swallowed the rice ball she had been chewing on, "Yes. Yes they did."

"About the forms... for the vault?"

"You too?" Yukari suddenly piped up. "The Council visited yours too, Erwin?"

"They did, Guderian," Erwin said, "I was curious to know if this was something they were trying to involve the whole school in."

"What forms?" from the next tank over, Azusa was craning her neck to listen in on what was being discussed.

"Registration forms," Erwin answered. "For the vault in Ooarai in case-" she stopped as she felt a hand touch her leg. She looked down and saw Miho, looking straight at her.

"If they need to know then they'll find out," she said, worried that mentioning the threat of a nuclear attack here would cause Rabbit Team to panic; they may be second years now, but she still thought of them as sweet, innocent freshmen. "The Council are probably doing it year by year and just didn't get to the second years before lunch."

"Sorry, commander," Erwin said. She squatted down next to Miho and lowered her voice. "Did you sign it?"

"Yeah, we all did," she quickly realised what she said might not have been true and looked straight at Yukari. "Miss Akiyama, miss Reizei, did you sign it?"

"Yeah, I signed it," Mako moaned.

"I did, miss Nishizumi," Yukari responded. "I didn't see the harm in not."

"A good way to look at it, Guderian," Erwin tipped her hat and stood up, then spoke at a normal level again. "Commander, are we going back to practice schedule as normal tonight?"

"Indeed we are!" Miho said excitedly, "Starting tonight after school, we'll be here to start practising Tankery again!"

There were many whoops and cheers from the rest of the students in the garage.

* * *

The girls finished their lunch and made their way back to their classes. On their way, Hana pointed out that the ship seemed to be heading for the shore. She noticed through a very slight angle through the trees that surrounded the grounds out the side of the ship.

"Well spotted, Hana," Yukari congratulated.

"I wonder why we're making port," Saori wondered aloud.

"Where even are we?" Miho asked.

"Ooarai," Erwin said behind them.

Anglerfish Team turned to her. She was there with the rest of Hippo Team.

"We noticed earlier and checked our maps on our phones," she elaborated. "We're docking at Ooarai. We'll arrive in about an hour."

"But why?" Saori continued to wonder aloud.

"Probably because they want us to stay as close to the vault as possible," Mako said.

"But we're a school ship!" Saori exclaimed, her hands tightening into fists, looking frustrated. "Wouldn't we be safe out at sea?"

"Maybe," said Miho, "If we were lucky. School ships rely on making port jumps, never spending more than a few weeks at sea. We can't be out cruising on the off chance the bombs will drop while we're away, and for all we could know we might not be a safe enough distance away. And we can't keep to port jumping because then we won't be near the vault we registered to if we need to get to it."

"So they've decided to stay permanently docked at Ooarai, miss Nishizumi?" Yukari finished for her.

"That's what I'm guessing."

"But I didn't enlist to a school ship so I had to go through customs whenever I wanted to go into town!" Saori cried with a stamp of her foot. "I want to be travelling! I want to see the sights of Japan!"

"Well you can't," Mako said, starting to get frustrated of Saori's whining." They need to keep us here so we can evacuate when the button's pressed."

Saori sighed.

* * *

Towards the end of the next class, Miho felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She had received a text, it was from Azusa.

 _Miss Nishizumi, the student council just came in and wants us to sign some forms to enlist for a vault to protect us some a supposed nuclear attack! Do you really think we could be bombed?!_

Miho wondered for a bit. The quasi-war between China and Japan wasn't cooling down anytime soon; there were supposed reports that China had scrambled forces to scout United States territory; and the US was apparently starting to occupy Japanese territory to make a front line defence in case of a full blown war. She didn't want to lie to Azusa, but she also didn't want her to panic.

 _Azusa, whether it happens or not, signing that form is the best thing you can do. The vault will keep us safe if it ever does happen._

She quickly got a response back.

 _But... do you think it could happen?_

She sighed. She wasn't psychic.

 _I don't know. Maybe._


	3. War Never Changes

**Chapter 3: War Never Changes**

* * *

That late afternoon, the team were brought together for the first practice session since school started again. They arranged themselves into their usual formation of making box shapes out of the members of each team. That was...except for Turtle and Mallard team. They were a quarter of an hour late.

"This is just ridiculous now!" Saori said frustratedly. "What the hell are they up to?"

Miho herself wasn't exactly pleased by this point. She had been hoping to talk to Anzu during practice to ask her more about this whole Vault-Tec thing.

"There they are!" someone from Rabbit Team shouted.

Everyone turned to look across the grounds and, sure enough, Turtle Team were making their way across, followed by Mallard Team behind them.

Anzu was leading the way, a bag of sweet dried potatoes in her hand and a smile on her face.

"Sorry we're late, everyone," she said cheerily. "We became occupied."

"Occupied with what?" Saori stamped her foot.

"The president has been very busy the last week," Momo responded with her usual straight, stern face.

"That makes a change." Mako grumbled quietly.

Mallard Team formed their rank amongst the rest of the Ooarai Tankery club, and Turtle Team joined Miho at the front. Momo confronted Miho.

"So, miss Nishizumi, how are we spending practice today?"

Miho was quite taken aback. She was used to Momo giving the lecture on what practice sessions would be, and then she would watch and evaluate team performance, giving pointers and tips where ever needed. And now Momo suddenly put her on the spot to come up with a session.

"Well... uh..." a single bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face, tickling her temple. She turned to face the rest of the Tankery club. "It's been so long since we've seen the tanks, maybe... urgh... maybe some driving and shooting practice to get used to them again?" It was more of a question than a declaration of what was going to happen. Regardless, many "YEAH!"s could be heard. Duck Team went as far as to punch the air in excitement. The crowd's sudden expression of excitement startled Miho a little.

"Oh... um...alright then," Miho took a second to breathe and regain her composure. "Panzer Vor!"

More whoops and the club dispersed, the sounds of feet on concrete as they stormed into the garages to be reunited with the tanks. Turtle Team took to simply sauntering, Anzu had hear hands behind her head as she walked. Miho caught their attention before they left.

"Umm...miss Kadotani?"

"Hmm?" Anzu hummed with a smile, twisting at her hips to face her.

"I wanted to ask you about... what has been going on... with the vault, and the threat of nuclear attack, we didn't exactly get to learn much about it."

Anzu put her arms down and completely turned to face Miho. Her smile melted away.

"Pray that you'll never need to find out, Miho," she said. "Though I highly recommend you pack a bag, a bag of your most precious belongings. Nothing too big, school bag sized. Keep it by your front door. Convince everyone else to do the same. And..." she paused, thinking about what to say next. She looked at Yuzu for support.

Yuzu pitched into Anzu's advice, "And if you hear an alarm, grab the bag and leave the house, following the crowd. Do exactly as the Morals Committee says."

" _Exactly_... as they say," said Momo.

"Sorry, Miho," Anzu said, her hands going back behind her head and her smile reappearing. "Some of it's confidential."

"O... k..." Miho stuttered.

Turtle Team resumed their way over to their Hetzer. Miho watched the backs of their heads, processing what she just heard.

"Miporin!" she heard Saori call from the Panzer IV.

Miho blinked, crashing back down to Earth and looked in the IV's direction.

"Coming!" she called, and started running for the tank.

* * *

Miho was perusing her Boko shelf in her room, deciding which one to pack. It was a hard decision, she loved every one of them, and the thought of the rest of them being destroyed in nuclear devastation caused a lump to grow in her throat and she had to be careful not to start crying.

Yeah, she had figured out pretty quickly why the council had suggested to pack a bag. It was obvious. She hoped that it hadn't been as obvious when she suggested it to the rest of the Tankery club, since Miho had managed to guess it because she brought up the subject. They weren't stupid, though. Some of them would've figured it out.

She packed a few sets of her favourite clothes, her laptop, the laptop's charger and her favourite Boko. Picking her first favourite was easy, that was the one she slept with on her bed, it was picking her second favourite that was hard. She knew it was silly, but she felt like she was hurting the other Bokos' feelings.

She wasn't sure what else to pack. Anzu had said "your most precious belongings" but how well stocked were the vaults? Did she need to take food? More clothes? Some of her own chopsticks? She stifled a breath suddenly and hugged herself, she had nearly started crying again.

What would happen to the school? Would all the effort they had put in to save it be for naught? Would everyone on the ship even make it out in time?

She grabbed Boko from her bag and hugged him tight. She backed up to her bed and sat down, her breathing becoming laboured. She buried her face into Boko. She wanted this to stop. She didn't want to have to think about any of this, she wanted to be worrying about school, she wanted to be participating in Tankery.

And practice had gone so well today! Everyone impressed her with how well they had managed to retain their skills despite not even being near a tank for so long. Hana could still hit a StuG from 1,500 metres away, Shinobu Kawanishi could still _somehow_ keep control of Duck's Type 89, Hippo Team still worked together as beautifully as a clock and Rabbit Team even had the initiative to start practising staggered fire!

"That's a really good idea, Rabbit Team!" Miho had told them.

"Thanks, miss Nishizumi!" Azusa, Rabbit Team's commander, beamed, "It was Aya and Ayumi's idea!"

Miho pulled away from Boko and looked into his unpatched eye. She breathed in through her nose, held her breath for a moment and breathed out through her mouth. She did it again, and then again.

"Thank you, Boko," she whispered.

She put him to one side and wiped her glazed eyes.

Now, what else needed to go in the bag?

* * *

 _War... war never changes._

 _Japan fought a civil war with itself so that feudal leaders could have total control over her, only for another war to be fought later to restore imperial rule,_

 _Julius Caeser came, saw and conquered,_

 _Rommel was put to death by the very leader he swore to serve,_

 _and children fight each other in armoured fighting vehicles for sport,_

 _but war never changes._

 _Since the beginning of humankind, when the concept of value was conceived, wars have been fought over for the most petty things._

 _China is at the throats of Japan and the United States, a conflict several hundreds of years in the making._

 _North Korea just couldn't stop "testing" their missiles; and Russia was getting continuously braver with its planes flying into foreign territory._

 _Even though we knew the apocalypse was coming, none us could be prepared for the day that would change our lives,_

 _none of us expected to go to sleep as children..._

 _only to wake up as survivors..._

 _But we should've._

 _Because war never changes._

* * *

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

Miho opened her eyes. She was warm, she was comfortable, she was at peace, and she was having a lovely dream. Her alarm hadn't gone off, the sun was only just rising, its rays peeking through a peek in the curtains.

But there was a very good reason she was awake, the alarm clock was the least of her worries.

The siren starting wailing again.

"No... no... not now..." she whispered.

She closed her eyes. She wished with every fibre in her being for this not to be happening.

 _"And if you hear an alarm, grab the bag and leave the house, following the crowd. Do exactly as the Morals Committee says."_

Her eyes shot open again and she threw the cover off her bed. She grabbed her school uniform that she neatly folded on the table the night prior and quickly slipped it on over her pyjamas. The siren would not stop wailing... It was so loud...

She ran for the door and yanked it open, grabbing her bag on the way. The door closed behind her and she sprinted for the stairs. She skidded to a stop and fished for the keys in her pocket.

They weren't there.

Wait... it didn't matter.

She started running down the stairs again. She heard the opening and slamming of several other apartment doors on her way down to the ground floor.

On the streets, there was a crowd of people. Cars, trucks and buses were desperately trying to navigate through, a cacophony of horns sounding. A member of the Student Morals Committee was directing the crowd as best as she could with a megaphone. She was only on the other side of the road, but Miho could still barely hear her over the sound of the siren.

"All adults, proceed to the next street over for your transport to Vault 131. Students, to the school grounds for your own transport to Vault 131. Children..."

Miho didn't wait around to listen to the rest of the broadcast before she sprinted against the crowd to make it to the school. The early autumn morning chilled her skin, and she was very glad she decided to put an extra layer on before leaving the house.

She made it to the school gate, where Sodoko was frantically ticking off every student that passed through on her tablet. She spotted Miho briefly stopping to observe the horrid scene of hundreds of students in mixed attires fearfully pouring onto the campus for their lives, and Sodoko screamed at her.

"Commander Nishizumi, keep moving!" she waved her arm in a beckoning motion and Miho sprinted again.

"Everyone," Sodoko desperately tried to scream over the panicked crowd. "To the buses! Get on the buses!"

Sure enough, there were lots of school buses - much like the ones that took them to the cabins when the school closed down - parked on the grounds. Students were piling into them, a Morals Committee member at each bus door half beckoning half shoving them through.

Miho made for the one that looked like it was having the least trouble filing its passengers on, which was like trying to pick the greenest blade of grass in a field.

She picked one though, and joined the mosh pit of a queue.

The siren hadn't stopped.

How long did they have?

Then everyone could feel their ear drums vibrating. That shut them all up. It didn't shut the siren up, though.

Everyone looked in the direction they _felt_ the noise rather than heard it. Several tens of miles down the coast, towards the city of Tokyo, a ball of light.

Tokyo was a long way away, but even from here, they could all see the rising, huge, dark figure, almost like a Kaiju.

"No..." Miho whispered. "A mushroom cloud."

The cloud kept rising, slowly forming the shape of the mushroom that towered into the sky.

"KEEP MOVING!" Sodoko screamed from the gate.

The frantic panic of the students started again as more people piled onto the bus. Finally, Miho made it on, hitting her head against the frame of the door as someone barged past. She found an empty seat and quickly sat down, glad to make it out of that horrible, stressful train of people.

The doors to the bus started to hiss shut. Through the window Miho could still see students that hadn't been lucky enough to make it on. They were batting their fists against the frame of the bus, shouting to be let in. Miho could see them crying. First years, second years, even fourth years clawing at the windows to try and open the emergency latches from outside.

She looked away.

The bus started moving.

She unzipped her bag and pulled out her Boko bear. She held him against her and closed her eyes tight. She wanted it to be over.

The bus was driving for what felt like forever. She wanted some company. She didn't know the people sat next to her (yes, people plural, two students trying to sit on the same seat to squeeze in as many onto the bus as they could). Would everyone make it out OK?

She looked amongst the heads of the crowd that were clogging the hall down the middle of the bus. She didn't recognise any of them.

"Miss Nishizumi?"

She gasped and turned around to see the source of the voice. Azusa was peeking through the gap in the seats.

"Azusa!" Miho exclaimed. "You're OK!"

Azusa's eyes were red and puffy.

"Miss Nishizumi, what's going to happen to us?"

"We're going somewhere safe, Azusa," Miho was glad she had someone to comfort, in doing so she was also comforting herself with her hopeful words. "You signed the form for the vault, right?"

"Yes, yes I did!"

"Good, then they'll let us in when we get there."

"I'm so glad the council convinced me to sign the form," the girl sat next to Miho said, on the lap of another girl. "Kawashima was so... scary..."

"Where do you think everyone else is, miss Nishizmi?" Azusa asked. "I'm scared that they won't make it."

"They will, Azusa," Miho said, trying to convince herself as much as she was the frightened, innocent little girl behind her. "They will."

* * *

The bus finally stopped. From outside the window, Miho could see the entrance to a cave. There were construction vehicles off to one side, Japanese military soldiers guiding a crowd into the cave, and what looked like robots thumping around with very, very big guns. Their heads almost looked like gas masks, and their stature was that of a bulky human.

"Everyone off the bus!" the doors to the vehicle had opened and Momo was there barking the order.

She didn't need to tell them twice. The crowd started piling off the bus just as chaotically as they had piled on.

The half crowd, half queue into the cave was moving fairly quickly. Several soldiers standing in the mouth of the cave with clipboards were asking for names, checking the board and ushering them in. Occasionally, some poor, unfortunate soul would be turned away.

"Are you kidding me?! But why?!"

"Your name's not on the list, sir," the soldier responded. "No signed form, no priority entry."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Keep the crowd moving, sir."

Momo was shouting for all the Ooarai students to follow her. She walked straight up to one of the soldiers and, despite her height, age and school uniform, stared him down.

"More students from Ooarai," she said.

"And they've all signed the-"

"Every. Single. Student in Ooarai. Has signed the forms," she interrupted him, sturdy as a brick wall. This didn't seem like the first time she had had to tell him this.

The soldier looked her up and down, pondered, and then stepped to one side.

"In they go," he said.

"Keep moving, girls!" Momo called back to the crowd of students. "Go inside and don't stop! Do not stop until you are in Vault 131!"

Momo wasn't moving. She shouted this to the crowd of students that were passing her, flooding into the cave. Once Miho reached her, Azusa close by her side, carrying her own bag, Miho stopped to ask Momo, "But what about you?"

"The next bus will be arriving shortly," Momo said matter-of-factly. "Without me, they wouldn't be let in. Now, miss Nishizumi, did I stutter? I said go inside and keep moving!"

She shouted that last part with her serious, teeth baring, angry face that convinced Miho that she shouldn't hang around.

"Come on, Azusa!" she called back and the two girls kept moving, into the cave.

The crowd kept moving through the cave, which was sloped downward. Eventually, the towering structure of what looked like a giant, open vault door was looming over them. They all funnelled through the huge door. The room on the other side looked like it was straight out of a spacious submarine. If Miho had ever imagined what the inside of a nuclear bunker shelter had looked like, this would be it. There were what looked like security guards standing on elevated flooring on either side of this little walkway into the vault before a few steps took them up to this raised ground. The sounds of several feet on hollow metal plates echoed throughout the room.

Over the generic sounds of bustling people, Miho could hear the familiar voice of Yuzu.

"Please take your kits and head straight to your assigned room, all will be explained later, for now just enter the vault to make room for further occupants! Please take your kits and head straight..."

She repeated this several times until Miho reached her. She was standing by a door that led further into the vault. She had a fold up table in front of her that really stood out against the aesthetic of the vault. Piled on the table, as well as in half empty and still sealed boxes underneath the table and behind Yuzu, were shrink wrapped bags with folded navy blue and yellow fabric inside with a tin box. Yuzu was handing them out to anyone and everyone who passed by.

"All will be explained- Oh hello, miss Nishizumi!" Yuzu stopped when she noticed her Tankery commander. "And hello, miss Sawa! I'm glad to see you guys made it!"

"Has anyone else from the Tankery club come through yet?" Miho asked.

"I've seen Duck, some of Rabbit and all of Anteater come through already, but we haven't had the whole school come in yet."

"I'm just really worried they won't make it in time!"

"Trust me Miho, we've done the best we can to get everyone into the vault as quickly as possible. The Morals Committee and the Student Council are doing their very best."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. I'm just... afraid."

"Well, I'd love to chat but I need to keep everyone moving. Here, each of you take one and find your room number written on the sticker."

Yuzu handed Azusa and Miho one bag each, and on closer inspection each had a sticker with a number hastily scribbled on.

"Please take your kits..." Yuzu started over again.

Miho and Azusa kept moving. The door led into a hallway, and a fairly tight one at that, not one nearly as big as in school. Only three people, four at a squeeze, could walk down them. Pieces of paper taped onto the walls with further hastily scribbled information pointed towards the wing of the vault with the quarters.

Several twists and turns later - Miho hoped there would be a map to this place somewhere - the girls found their quarters. Yuzu seemed to have deliberately picked two numbers next to each other, which was kind of her.

Azusa and Miho looked at each other, standing in front of their respective dorm doors.

"So I guess we just wait in here until further notice," Miho wondered aloud.

"Thank you for staying near me, miss Nishizumi," Azusa said. "I would've felt really lost without you."

"It's OK, miss Sawa," Miho smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah...see you later, miss Nishizumi."

As soon as they stepped forward with intentions for the door, they hissed quickly open. Miho stepped into her room.

About 30 minutes ago, Miho had been asleep, in her bed, at home. Now, she was underground, in a vault, to protect her from the nuclear bombs dropping over their heads.

She wondered if she should've looked at the sun one last time when she had the chance.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **(5/Mar/17) Renumbered the vault to Vault 131**

 **Centralised the War Never Changes speech, I just think it looks better that way :P**


	4. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

**Chapter 4: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On**

* * *

The room was fairly spacious, which was good, as it had four beds. There were two bunks in the far left and right corners of the room. A closed door in the far wall between the two beds had the letters 'W.C.' on them, which Miho was confused by. Vault-Tec were an American company, apparently some of their mannerisms kept with them despite having a Japanese branch.

There was a carpet on the floor between the two beds, which seemed to be there for the purpose of breaking up the visuals of the floor, it was so thin it didn't look like it'd make the floor comfortable to kneel on and it was just a solid colour.

On her left, in the corner of the room, there was a strange table and seat setup. There was a cushioned wide seat that curved with the corner of the wall and the table was suspended by a single solid leg. Miho recognised it as a seating arrangement straight out of an American diner. She never thought she'd ever see anything like it in this country. Vault-Tec's mannerisms really were here to stay.

On the far right wall was a large chest of drawers with shelves built into the walls above it. There was a poster on the wall with the Vaul-Tec logo and cartoon boy mascot with the tag _You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L_.

There was a slight hiss from behind that startled her. She turned to look. It was just the door closing, its two halves sliding back together. She breathed a sigh of relief she had been observing the room so thoroughly that a simple automatic door needed to keep her on her toes.

So this was where she was going to spend... how long were they down here for exactly? That was probably going to be explained later. She guessed that it would've also been detailed in that leaflet the vault form had briefly mentioned if the bombs had given them time to arrive.

She wondered. Maybe the leaflet was in this shrink wrapped bag? That seemed like the kind of useful thing to put in what she presumed to be a start-your-life-in-a-vault starter kit.

Placing her bag against the side of the frame of the bed, she sat down on one of the bunks and... it was surprisingly comfy. She was expecting military standard: foam blocks wrapped in a layer of leather,like a prison mattress. But she sank into it as she sat on it. She peeled the mattress cover to look at it. It was literally a block of foam. Well she was half right. She guessed it was industrial grade.

Outside the dorm room, Miho could hear the footsteps and chatter of other vault residents looking for their rooms. It was fairly quiet, though now she was consciously thinking about it, she only just noticed the buzzing of the light bulbs in the roof. She hoped she'd forget about that before going to sleep.

She placed the shrink wrapped bag on her lap and undid the plastic zip. She pulled the tin box out first and placed it to one side, she wanted to find the leaflet first, if it was in there. She pulled the folded fabric out, pinched it with her fingers and let it fall. It was a jumpsuit, with the number 131 in yellow on the back. A little booklet fell out from within. She caught it between her knees before it fell too far, balled the jumpsuit up, put it on top of the box and looked at the booklet.

 _What to do in times of the apocalypse!_

Yeah, this seemed to be what she was looking for. She flicked through it. There weren't many pages, each one seemed to detail some brief information on certain topics of the vault, presumably acting as a reference guide rather than an exhaustive list of information. The font they used was large, the text was broken up a lot, there were pictures and that mascot boy liked to hog a few of the pages as well. She glanced at the chapter names as she turned the pages.

 _'When they drop that bomb!'_ What to do when the bombs start dropping. Bit facetious, and a bit late for that.

 _'Facilities in the vault'_ Common rooms, mess halls, interior pictures of each to go with. Weirdly enough, the toilets were in the same rooms as the showers in the dorms. Was that an American thing? Worryingly enough, the vault also seemed to come equipped with an armoury. What would they need guns for down here? Japan's laws on firearms was _very_ strict, and Miho was uncomfortable with the thought that she wasn't too far from an entire shelf of the things.

 _'Health'_ Stimpaks? RadX? RadAway? Miho had never heard of any of these... products? Brands? She peered up to look at the door to the dorm, remembering she had spotted a wall-mounted first aid kit, hanging just off to the side of it. On the booklet there was also a little table that showed what the different levels of radiation were based on how many "rads" the patient had absorbed. Well, she was down here in the vault, she wouldn't have to worry about radiation.

 _'Frequently asked questions'_ This might be what she was looking for. There was a cute illustration of the mascot scratching his head with a finger peering up to look at a question mark above his head.

 _'Q: How long do I have to stay in the vault?_

 _A: Your time in one of vaults is dependant on a number of factors, most of which are out of our control! Ultimately, all vault residents will leave the vault when the Overseer relays that Vault-Tec has given them the All-Clear signal, which means it's safe to go to the surface! You mustn't go to the surface until the Overseer has received the All-Clear signal, there's all sorts of dangerous things up there, like nuclear fallout! Usually it takes about a year for fallout radiation levels to reach a safe level, but other contributing factors can mean the All-Clear signal isn't given until several decades after the door has been sealed.'_

A year? That wasn't... too bad. And hey, Ooarai would only be caught in the fallout by what was carried by the wind from Tokyo, right?

She felt the ground beneath her feet shake. It felt like an earthquake, but... Miho somehow knew it wasn't. She instinctively looked up, to the surface. Silly thing to do really, but she couldn't help it. If anybody hadn't made it into the vault now... they were gone.

She gripped her fists, the pages of the magazine crinkled in her hand. She took a deep breath, not wanting to burst into tears again. She needed to be strong now. Breathe in through the nose... hold it... and out through the mouth. She released her grip on the booklet and put it to one side.

She picked up the tin box from underneath the jumpsuit. She tilted it in her hand, looking at it. On closer inspection, it had the Vault-Tec logo on it, the yellow font blending into the light shade of brown of the tin. The tin was very curvaceous, she didn't have a clue what was inside it. There was a latch on the box, kind of like what you would see on a businessman's briefcase.

She released the latch and opened the box. There was a little manual on top. The very first thing that caught her eye was the giant _Pip-Boy_ text on the front. She picked it up with the intention of looking inside it but then saw what it was covering.

It was unlike anything she'd ever seen. Miho's affiliation with technology was that of any normal millennial: she knew how to use a smartphone and the basic functionalities of a laptop for word processing and Internet browsing. This device here was completely alien.

It looked like someone tried to make a bracelet out of a phone. It had a large, slightly curved screen, fixed into a bulky arm band unit with a couple of dials. It was sitting in a carved out block of black foam, which she could smell now that the box was open. She pulled it out. It was spotless, shiny; obviously brand new.

Like the box it came it, it operated on a latch. She slipped it on her arm and closed the latch. She pressed one of the buttons - any random button - and it started to rapidly click. She jumped slightly. The display then lit up and a bunch of green scrolling text raced by.

Some more text - complete gibberish, computer talk - typed itself on screen, before flickering a little animation played of the Vault-Tec mascot raising his thumb, his happy grin never leaving his face. Miho was starting to find that smile a little insufferable.

Then the display changed again to a complicated display of bars, boxes, numbers, another animation of the mascot walking on the spot and aaaaaargh!

She put her arm down. She'll figure it out another time.

She picked the jumpsuit up again and looked at it. It was lacking in taste. It looked like a heavy duty onesie, like if astronauts had to sleep in pyjamas she imagined this is what they would be issued. Were they being expected to wear these?

The doors to the room hissed, once again a little too loudly. Miho jumped again. She hoped that wouldn't wake them up if anyone ever left the room while they were sleeping. She looked over to the door, but she knew who was there before she got a good look.

"Miss Nishizumi!" the familiar voice of Yukari cried out upon seeing her beloved commander.

"Yukari!" Miho burst into a smile, and quickly stood back to her feet in surprise, dropping the jumpsuit. "I- I'm so happy to see you're alive!"

"Me too, miss Nishizumi. Err, I mean I'm happy _you're_ alive, not me, though I _am_ happy I'm alive as well." Yukari chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

She was dressed in her own set of forest camouflage pyjamas with a set of cargo overalls on top. Her hair was a complete mess. Miho cringed at the thought of having to comb it. Tucked under her left arm, Yukari was holding one of the shrink wrapped bags, and she had a backpack on as well. Miho was glad to see she followed orders and had put a pack of stuff together.

"How long have you been here?" Yukari asked, setting her backpack down beside the frame of the bunk opposite Miho.

"Not long," Miho responded. "Do you know if anyone else made it?"

"I saw Leopon team when I joined the school queue," Yukari relayed.

"Oh yeah, you must have come here with your parents."

"Yeah, I did. They made it in." Yukari sat down on the bed, hands on her knees. Miho also sat back down, and the two girls faced each other, glad to be in their company.

"Why aren't you with them?" Miho asked.

"I was up until we arrived at the vault. Kawashima wanted me to go in with the rest of the students that had just arrived by bus."

"Why?"

"Something to do with administration. I think they were trying to keep as close of a track on how many students they managed to get into the vault. She said I'd be able to skip the queue in if I did that."

"So you had to leave your parents?" Miho seemed more than a little horrified.

"Yeah, that... made me uncomfortable, as it did Dad. But Mum urged me to go on, she said if they were... unlucky at least I would be alive." Her face sunk a little as he said that, but lit up again with a glint in her eye. "And Kawashima said she saw you go in, so I wanted to go in to find you!"

Miho giggled, putting her curled up fingers to her mouth.

"That was sweet of you, Yukari. Thank you."

"What's that around your arm?" Yukari's attention was suddenly seized by the Pip-Boy strapped to Miho's forearm.

"Oh that," Miho had forgotten it was there, she had subconsciously wondered why her arm had felt heavier when she lifted it to giggle, "I think it's called a Pip-Boy, you should have-"

"Woah! They gave us Pip-Boys?!" Yukari burst out, snatching the plastic bag back up she had put down and unzipping it.

"You know what they are?"

"Sure do! Someone on a tank forum I follow mentioned them. They're an awesome bit of kit!" Yukari ran her hand over the tin box and found the latch. She undid it, opened the box and immediately tossed the manual onto her bed and pulled her Pip-Boy out of its foam.

She held it out in front of her with outstretched arms, her mouth open and her eyes shining like they did when she saw a tank she liked.

"This is so co-o-o-o-ol! I wonder which model it is..."

"3000 Mark 4.5," Miho read the the subtitle off of her own manual.

"Oh, awesome, we got the latest models!"

"What's the difference?"

Yukari lowered the Pip-Boy and peered over at Miho, her Panzer High expression frozen on her face.

"I have no idea!" she confessed, and then burst out laughing.

Miho laughed with her.

"Never change, Yukari," she said with a smile.

The high spirits were suddenly bought down again by a second episode of shaking. They could feel the vibrations in their feet, and the walls rattled a little bit.

The happy expressions of the two girls quickly faded away. They looked at each other, and nothing was said for a moment.

"Are your parents OK?" Miho finally broke the silence.

"Yeah, they're OK," Yukari said with a soft smile. "They signed the registration forms, so they made it through pretty quickly. By the time Yuzu handed me the bag and shooed me through the door I saw them stepping into the vault."

"That's great to hear! It'd be awful if they got caught outside."

"Yeah. I was a little scared the whole way here that we would be."

Another somewhat awkward silence enveloped them. Neither could concentrate on keeping the conversation going, their minds were distracted by the surface.

"D'you think they particularly don't like Ooarai or they just have that many bombs?" Miho asked. They were both wondering roughly the same thing. Ooarai wasn't anything special, so for two bombs to be dropped near it either meant they were targeting them specifically for some reason, or they had just _that_ many bombs to use.

"I...don't know," Yukari said. "I hope everyone is OK," she said with a sigh.

They had noticed by now that the foot traffic outside had really died down since the first shake. Clearly because the vault was no longer taking any more residents.

The door hissed open once again, Miho didn't let it catch her off guard this time.

"Commander! Guderian!"

"Erwin!" the two girls exclaimed, and then they noticed who was standing behind her. "Saori!"

"Oh, Miporin, Yukari, you're ok!" Saori wailed, throwing her handbag and the kit Yuzu gave to the floor as she ran to Miho, her eyes tearing up.

Miho stood up and caught Saori as she flung herself onto her for a hug, which was broken very quickly so she could go and hug Yukari next, her sobbing echoing even in the halls outside.

"I'm- so glad you- you're all OK!" she managed to say between her voice flexing from the crying. Her voice was muffled from burying her face into Yukari's shoulder.

"I second that, commander, Guderian," Erwin approached Miho and thrust her hand out for a handshake, which Miho took up on.

Erwin held her fist out to Yukari, who just managed to reach out to bump it with Saori wrapping herself tight around her.

Erwin was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, with her trademarked jacket, done up for once. That was secretly because she hadn't had time to slip anymore than a bra on. She had her hat though of course, she had her priorities straight.

Saori was dressed in a set of pink cotton pyjamas, her hair was uncombed with strands sticking out in all directions. She had get school shoes on, but without socks.

"So. This is it then," Erwin said, setting her hiking rucksack down with the plastic bag held on with a bungee cord wrapped all the way around. "We're in Vault 131 now. This is our new home."

"I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE OUR NEW HOME!" Saori cried out, letting Yukari go to grab fistfuls of her own hair.

"Miss Takebe," Yukari tried to say as cheerfully as she could. "Unfortunately it has to be now. We're down here to protect us from the fallout on the surface."

Saori had stopped her wailing, but covered her face in her hands, the tears streaming down her face, with the occasional sniff to break the silence.

"I hope my parents are OK..." she managed to say.

Miho reached out to her and put her hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her in for a hug. Saori moved in.

"We have to be strong now, Saori," said Miho. "We need to be strong for each other."

* * *

"So... did they all make it?"

"Yes, Overseer," Momo flung her clipboard onto the desk. "Every single student is alive and accounted for."

"That's good."

"Not without casualties, however," Momo quickly relayed. "The medical ward is full of patients suffering radiation sickness."

"Exposure from the first bomb dropping, I take it?"

"Yeah, we only just managed to close the door before everyone in the door room suffered lethal exposure. It wasn't just students, a few citizens are in the infirmary too."

"Anyone in particular?"

"Most of them are Student Morals Committee, they were lagging behind the last few students when the last bus arrived."

"So... Sodoko?

"Actually... she and Mako Rezei..." Momo stopped.

She swallowed hard.

She took a deep breath.

"They were locked out when the bomb dropped."

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Unfortunately, I am. However, they were right up against the vault door when the explosion occurred, and were nowhere near ground zero. There was no direct exposure to the blast."

"That makes it OK then," the Overseer was dripping with sarcasm.

"B-but they're back inside. They're now in the medical ward, suffering severe radiation sickness."

"Shit..."

"Your plans were amazing though, Overseer. You really outdid yourself, the organisation was some of the best I have ever seen. If anyone else had been in charge, I doubt we would've even got half the school inside, and while everyone was asleep when the alarm was raised no less!"

"Thanks Kawashima, but if Sodoko and Mako die, I... I'm not sure I'll be able to forgive myself. I'm... I might even be starting to regret taking this job."

Momo rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was starting to feel the stress too.

"Overseer, I hate to bring matters up, but there's also the introduction and presentation that still needs conducting, pretty much everyone is still in their randomly assigned rooms and nobody knows what's going on."

"... OK, you're right, get that prepared... but for God's sake I'm not doing it without a bag of sweet potatoes."

"Yes, Overseer."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello readers! I would just like to take a moment to thank you for reading the story. If you've made it this far I can only assume that you like it!**

 **Having said that, I would like to know your opinion on the story. I'm trying to keep a balance of realism and GuP logic with this story, as I'm trying to make it bleak but also keep some of that GuP charm. I would like to know if I'm succeeding, so a review would be most appreciated.**

 **And I'd also just like to know what you think of my writing in general! I myself have noticed that it's fairly mediocre. I think my particular style only works in certain places, so overall it makes the story's quality generally "meh", nothing truly awful like a stereotypical fanfic but nothing amazing like Gup: Open Warfare (go check that story out).**

 **Catch you in the next chapter!**


	5. Accentuate the Positive

**Chapter 5: Accentuate the positive**

* * *

"Attention vault residents," the tannoy system in the halls spoke up, "Please report to the mess hall for a formal introduction to Vault 131 and your Overseer. This is not mandatory, you may stay in your temporarily allocated rooms for now."

"Well, guess we're going there, then!" Erwin hopped down from her bed above Yukari and stretched her arms over her head. She had changed into the jumpsuit for some decency, with the yellow 131 on the back. She had her jacket over it, undone as it was rightfully meant to be, and her officer's cap on her head.

"I'm not going," sulked Saori on her own bed above Miho. Since they had managed to stop her crying she had resorted to lying on her bed staring at the ceiling, contributing very little to the small talk the other three were keeping themselves busy with. Erwin had relayed the good news that Hippo Team had all managed to make it safely to the vault.

"Really, Saori?" Miho asked, standing up. "Why not?"

"It'll just be a waste of time! All it's going to be is some stuck up adult saying how we're trapped down here and need to deal with it, then he'll show us where the bathroom is and tell us to go back to our rooms!"

"Miss Takebe, what are you talking about?" Yukari stifled a giggle.

"I'm saying that it'll be a waste of time!" Saori burst out, propping herself up on her elbow.

"But don't you want to see everyone else?" Miho asked. "Don't you want to see who else is alive?"

"They said it was optional, didn't they?" Saori pointed out. "You really think they'll fit everyone in this vault into a single mess hall? They said that so there _would_ be stragglers who didn't bother. Well, I'm not bothering!" she huffed and rolled over on her side, back facing the trio.

Miho, Yukari and Erwin looked between each other and shrugged. They wanted Saori to come with them but didn't see how they could convince her. They couldn't drag her kicking and screaming, so if she didn't want to go, she wasn't going.

"Alright, Saori," Miho said, defeated. "We'll see you later."

"See you later, Miho," Saori grumbled sadly.

As the three left the room and the doors hissed closed, Saori sniffed, trying to hold back another crying episode.

* * *

"Umm... left... and then right... and then... down?" Yukari was trying to make sense of the local map on her Pip-Boy, though all of the solid lines, right angle angle bends and corridors were blending together. She reckoned that if she focused hard enough she could turn it into a magic eye picture.

"Or we could just follow the signs, Yukari," Miho giggled, gesturing to a decal on the wall that read ' MESS HALL' in stencil font.

"That works too," Yukari agreed.

The girls followed the signs through the labyrinth of halls, just the three of them. They had checked on next door for Isuzu but an inhabitant who insisted on staying said she already left. They could see and hear other groups of students and even adults making their way through the halls.

"These things sure are weird," Erwin was fiddling with the dials on her own Pip-Boy. "What are they even for?"

"And how does it know what I'm carrying?" Yukari peered at her inventory display, and then fished something out of her pocket. It was a bottle cap. "I forgot I even had that!"

"Yukari, why do you have a bottle cap in your pocket?" Miho asked, trying not to laugh.

"Err..." Yukari went a bit red. "It's a rare one."

"A _rare_ bottle cap?" Erwin grinned.

"Yeah, it's got a tank shell on the top."

Sure enough, the bottle cap was a solid red colour with a shiny, golden sigil on top shaped like a tank shell.

"I gotta admit, that does look pretty cool," Erwin said.

"Yay, miss Erwin gets it!" Yukari thrust her fist and slipped the bottle cap back into her pocket.

"Is this the mess hall here?" Miho asked as they approached a slightly larger door that the signs had been leading them to. Her question was answered when the doors slid open and they saw a crowd of people on the other side. There were long tables and benches that looked like they came out of a cafeteria. "I guess so."

They stepped inside, each one peering at the faces of the crowd to see if there was anyone they recognised. There was a lot of chatter in the air, and the occasional happy cry out as two friends or family members found each other, happy to see the other alive.

And then Miho spotted someone. "Miss Sawa!" she called out.

Isuzu turned around, as did all the heads of the rest of Rabbit Team around her. They all had really big smiles on their faces, even Saki had a light grin.

"Miss Nishizumi!" The team said in unison, bar Saki.

The two groups approached each other and met halfway.

"It's good to see the rest of you are OK!" Miho said to the team. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, miss Nishizumi, we're all fine!" said Aya.

Miho was relieved to see them. She quickly ran through her head if all Tankery teams had been accounted for.

Anglerfish Team, two missing; Rabbit Team, all safe; Hippo Team, all safe; Duck Team, all safe according to Yuzu; Turtle Team, Miho hadn't heard from Anzu; Mallard Team, she had no idea, and suddenly started to worry as she reminded herself the Morals Committee could've still been outside when the first bomb dropped; Anteater, all safe according to Yuzu; and Yukari had seen Leopon Team in the school queue.

She was brought back to reality when she heard the familiar noise of Momo using her megaphone.

"Attention, residents!"

She was standing on one of the cafeteria benches, dressed in the Vault 131 jumpsuit. She managed to quiet down half the crowd, but seeing that her authority was falling on deaf ears, she resorted to her angry tone.

"ATTENTION, RESIDENTS!"

That did it. Everyone in the cafeteria quietened down to listen to her.

"My name is Momo Kawashima, I am the PR manager of Vault 131. I-"

"Can't we speak to who's in charge?" someone in the crowd interrupted.

Anyone who knew Momo could see a flicker in her facial expression as she held back bursting out in anger. She tightened her grip on the megaphone, and let her arm drop to her side. She turned around and faced a closed door behind her.

"Overseer..."

The door hissed open, and Anzu sauntered out, dressed in the jumpsuit, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. Well, as much as a smile as she could put on with the last of the sweet potato she was chewing in her mouth. Yuzu was behind her, also dressed in the Vault 131 jumpsuit.

A murmur started amongst the crowd. Miho herself was quite surprised to see that Anzu was the one waiting behind the door.

Anzu stepped up onto the table, swallowed her potato, inwardly slapped herself and shot an arm into the air for a wave.

"Hi, everyone! I'm your Overseer!" and she spread her arms out with a big grin on her face.

A moment of silence passed before there was an uproar from the crowd. Fists were shaking in the air, fingers were being pointed at her, angry faces shouting profanities and "dislike" for this apparent figure of authority.

"Residents, please quieten down!" Momo shouted into her megaphone, but even she had some hesitation in her voice as she was overwhelmed by this upheaval.

"Why is a kid in charge of all of our family's safety?" was the general question being shot at them from the crowd.

Anzu snatched the megaphone out of Momo's hand and spoke into it, raising her voice to be heard over the angry crowd but still with a sense of cheeriness about her, "Vault-Tec were in need of an Overseer to manage the vault, and they approached me personally."

"Show us the proof!"

Yuzu pre-emptively held out the signed contract for Anzu to take. Anzu took it and held it out, presenting it like it was a poster to a gig that would blow them all away.

"Signed, dated and official!" she gleamed.

"And why should we trust a child to lead the vault efficiently?"

Anzu's grin sunk slightly, becoming semi serious as she raised the megaphone to her mouth and said with the utmost of confidence, "Because it was with the combined organisation of us and the school Student Morals Committee we were able to get all you off that ship and down here safely," the crowd were quietening down, enough that Anzu didn't need to raise her voice anymore. "And our efforts meant that-" she dropped her megaphone and glanced at Momo, "How many students safely made it down here, Kawashima?"

"All of them, Overseer." Momo's hands were behind her, back straight.

" _All_... of them," Anzu relayed back to the crowd, megaphone back up to her mouth.

She let that sink in.

A moment passed before someone said something, "A child still shouldn't be trusted with the responsibility of running a community!"

That got the crowd riled up again. Then the three girls started to get questions thrown at them, "Why did you prioritise the students?", "Where are our permanent rooms?", "How do we sustain ourselves?", "What about the large group of patients in the infirmary right now?".

The crowd was crawling forwards, and the trio were becoming a little intimidated and overwhelmed by this negative feedback.

Anzu gave Yuzu a signal, who then trotted off back to the door they came out of. Momo took the megaphone from Anzu and shouted into it, "Residents, calm yourselves!"

No reaction. More shouting, more fist shaking, more finger pointing, more etching forwards.

Miho herself was getting intimidated by the crowd, and it's anger wasn't even directed at her. She ushered to each of the Rabbit Team students to leave the cafeteria, and grabbed Erwin and Yukari by their shoulders and said "Let's get out of here!" to them over the sounds of the crowd.

Yuzu came out of the door again, followed by several members of the Student Morals Committee dressed in riot armour and carrying large, plastic shields. They lined up side by side behind the table that Momo and Anzu were perched on and tried their best to look intimidating.

"RESIDENTS, CALM DOWN!" Momo shouted as loud as she could, her ears ringing from the volume of her own shout banging against her ear drums.

The combination of Momo's unpleasant shouting and the appearance of Vault 131's own riot police caused most of the crowd to finally calm down.

"Here is what is going to happen!" Momo continued. "All residents are going to return to their temporarily allocated rooms! We shall hold a second gathering when you can learn to accept the situation we are all in! The fact of the matter is that miss Kadotani is now legally bound to act as the Overseer of Vault 131 and cannot step down from the position even if she wanted to! We want to provide as best of a living experience here in Vault 131 as we can and we cannot do that without the cooperation of the residents! Now, return to your rooms!"

That speech actually had the intended effect on some of them. There was a slight murmur amongst the crowd, some of agreement, others of concern, but very few, if any, of actual defiance. Everyone could admit that was a convincing speech.

And one by one, the crowd dispersed as people did as they were told. Momo let her megaphone arm drop to her side, she was breathing slightly heavily. Anzu put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Kawashima, that... that really helped. I was losing it there."

"You're welcome, Overseer."

"Let's go back to the office," Anzu turned and hopped down from the table and addressed the Morals Committee. "Thank you ladies, you have done your job wonderfully! Dismissed!" she finished with a grin, and the Morals Committee dispersed.

Anzu, Yuzu and Momo left the cafeteria to return to the office.

* * *

"Miss Kadotani is in... charge?" Saori was sitting on the side of her bed, still dressed in her pink cotton pyjamas, though she had now tied her hair back into a ponytail to keep the frizzy, uncombed strands out of the way of her face. Erwin, Yukari and Miho had just come back and repeated the happenings of the gathering to Saori.

"Yeah, it was a surprise to us as well," Miho said, peering up at her. An occasional click could be heard from the other bunk as Erwin and Yukari were fiddling with their Pip-Boys.

"But why would they put a child in charge of the vault?" Saori asked. "I'm not surprised they got the reaction they did."

"I don't know," said Miho. "I mean, I know that the council has quite a large influence on the community on the Ooarai _ship_ , but I never thought it extended as far as the town itself."

Saori was nodding along in agreement.

"To be fair to Anzu though," Erwin pitched in, not taking her eyes off of the Status screen on her Pip-Boy while flicking through the manual by her side to see if there was a reference table for radiation levels, "if I had to pick any student from Ooarai to be in charge, I'd pick her," she then lowered her Pip-Boy a little to look up at Miho. "Ur, no offence to you of course, commander."

"None taken," Miho smiled. "You're right Erwin, Anzu was probably the best pick if they couldn't have picked an adult, for some reason. Though the other adults don't know that, they don't know her like we do."

"I just hope she knows what she's doing," Saori held her head in her hands.

* * *

"Overseer, what are we doing now?"

"I have no idea, Kawashima," Anzu fell back into her new office chair and kicked her feet onto her desk. She had already made herself at home in the Overseer's office, there was a table in the corner of the room with a coffee maker that she had told Yuzu to raid stocks for.

She opened a draw in her desk. It was filled to the brim with bags of dried sweet potatoes. She pulled one out, wrenched it open and started to chew down on one.

"After that shit fest, I'm a little lost for ideas. Momo, run down the checklist for me. What's the next step?"

Momo picked up her clipboard from the couch on one side of the room and inspected it. The checklist was something the council had put together with the cooperation of Sodoko of everything they needed to do prior, leading up to and after the bombs had dropped to ensure maximum efficiency in the population of Vault 131.

She was glad to see that it was nearly filled in.

"Redistribute residents to permanent living quarters," she read aloud the next task.

Anzu spun in her chair a little to call over to Yuzu who was making a cup of coffee. "Yuzu!" she called through a mouthful of potato.

"Yes, presi- Overseer?"

"Didn't we end up deciding yes on getting the adults to hot bunk?"

"Umm... well Overseer, we _did_ , but... that won't be necessary."

Anzu swallowed her sweet potato. "Not everyone from the town made it, did they?"

Yuzu shook her head sadly with a frown.

"So you've finished the final tally on residents. Alright, everyone gets a bed, then?"

"Yes, Overseer."

Anzu sighed. "Well, we tried, girls," and then she put on a smile. "But look on the bright side! No vault residents complaining they need to hot bunk!" She threw a dried potato into the air, laced her fingers behind her head leaning back into the chair and caught the sweet treat. She closed her eyes to enjoy a moment of peace.

Momo and Yuzu looked at each other. Yuzu smiled, and even Momo couldn't help but raise the corner of her mouth ever so slightly. They were both happy to have Anzu as their superior.

"Oh!" Anzu'a eyes shot open. "I just remembered! How are Sodoko and Mako?"

"Actually," Momo puzzled, scratching her chin, "I'm not sure. I haven't had time to go to the infirmary with that meeting being organised."

"We should go and see them," Anzu stood up. "I want to apologise personally to Sodoko and take responsibility for Mako should the worst come to worst."

"Overseer, it's not your fault," said Momo.

Anzu reached over to a tin box on the corner of her desk and opened it. She pulled the Pip-Boy out of it and started strapping it to her wrist.

"Nothing you say, Kawashima, will convince me otherwise. I was the one who appointed Sodoko to be outside. I would be the one who would have to tell her parents, straight to their faces, that I was the one who told her to be there when the sirens went off," she pressed the on switch on her Pip-Boy.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The computer text on it was red. An error message appeared on the screen before the Pip-Boy shut itself down. She sighed and made a mental note to fix it later. She dropped her arm and looked straight at Momo.

"It is my responsibility, as an Overseer, to go and see her to check on her health, as well as Mako's."

"Yes, Overseer," Momo bowed. "Forgive me."

"Who's coming with me?" Anzu asked as she snatched the half empty packet of sweet potatoes on her way around the desk for the exit.

"I will, Overseer," Momo responded.

"Oh, Yuzu," Anzu snapped her fingers and turned to her. "It might actually be best if you stayed to sort out the room allocation."

"Yes, Overseer." Yuzu smiled.

"Thanks," she started to take another step forward and then stopped. She let her head hang a little, lost in thought.

"Is something the matter, Overseer?" Yuzu asked.

"I... I really mean it..." Anzu responded. "Thank you, Yuzu..." she turned her head to look at Momo. "Thank you Kawashima. You guys... I don't know where I'd be without you."

Momo didn't know what to say. This had come as quite the surprise to her. She straightened her expression and brought her feet together and snapped her arms to her side. "It is my pleasure to serve you Overseer, as it has been for the last three years."

Anzu laughed softly. She looked down again, wondering how she could be so lucky to have such capable subordinates who would follow her and respect her, even in the position of Overseer of a vault.

"Right!" she said cheerfully and loudly, bringing herself together. "Let's go!" and she strode forwards.

Momo and Yuzu looked at each other again, exchanged a shrug, and Momo followed Anzu out the door. Yuzu took her coffee, sat down at the Overseer's desk, logged onto the terminal, cursed at the horrible text interface and started to get to work on putting a database together for room allocation.

* * *

Anzu and Momo arrived outside of the infirmary. They had passed a few people on the way, and had received a few glaring looks. Apparently the idea of a high schooler being in charge of everyone's last hope of shelter in times of apocalypse still wasn't sitting well on the tongue.

The automatic double doors opened for them, and they stepped inside. The infirmary was a long wing with a row of beds on either side, stretching from one end of the room to the other. The two beds on the far side of the room had their curtains drawn. Nearly every bed had a patient in it, and all of them bar a few were members of the Student Morals Committee.

Something that stood out was the presence of a multi-armed robot with a spherical body hovering around the room, keeping itself aloft via a small jet at its base. It seemed to be talking to someone else, a doctor judging by his white coat.

The doctor noticed the two new arrivals and bowed to the robot and made his way over.

"Hello, Overseer," he said. "I assume you're here to check on the patients?"

"I am, doctor," Anzu confirmed, she settled her weight onto one leg and put a hand on her hip. "How are they?"

"Well, if it weren't for that miracle of a chemical RadAway, I would have far worse news for you!"

"That implies that you _do_ have bad news for us," Momo said.

"Er, well yes, it's mostly good news. While most of the patients absorbed an amount of radiation that would normally have a mortality rate of 50 to 100 percent, the RadAway has literally saved lives here today. Some of them are still hooked up to it now."

Anzu could see a few patients had IV bags with a black liquid inside.

"What's the bad news?" Anzu asked.

"Well... the doctor started, "I'm not quite sure how to explain it..."

"If someone has died, doctor, I need to know," Anzu almost demanded.

"Well, while nobody is currently dead, we have had two deaths."

"What does that even mean?" Momo asked, finding that ridiculous.

"It's probably best if I show you, come this way," the doctor gestured and started to make his way down the wing. The girls followed.

He led them down to the other end of the infirmary. On their way they passed by the robot, who gave a friendly "Good morning, miss Overseer!" in a very generic formal Japanese businessman accent. Anzu ignored it. Her hands were balled into fists and she was striding forwards by shifting her shoulders back and forth rather than swinging her arms. She was biting her lower lip and her brow was pursed.

The doctor led them behind the curtain on the left. There was a bed there, but all they could see was a body underneath a cover, hooked up to a hearbeat monitor, from this angle they couldn't see the face. The line on the screen was squiggling at regular intervals. That was good right?

BEEP... BEEP...BEEP...

They approached the bed, with the doctor tailing behind. He was twisting his fingers together. And as they saw the patient's face, they knew why.

The flesh on her face was...rotten. Shrivelled, crinkled, brown with flecks of green. Her face was gaunt, her cheekbones were prominent and the cheeks themselves concave. Almost all of her hair had fallen out, only a few clumps remained to show that she once had hair that ran down to the small of her back. Her lips were also falling off; despite her mouth being closed some of her teeth were exposed. Anyone who knew her well enough could tell that it was Mako Rezei.

"Oh...my..." was all Momo could say.

Anzu reached out to touch Momo next to her, feeling down her arm until she found her hand and took it. Feeling what she was doing, Momo took her hand. Anzu's lip quivered, and her vision became blurred from tears.

"And she's... alive?" questioned Momo.

"Umm... yes," the doctor responded hesitantly, but when he started speaking again he talked much faster, more excited, pulling out a clipboard from inside his coat. "I have never seen anything quite like it. When we brought her inside, she had absorbed radiation in the several thousands of rads. She practically stumbled through the vault door when it was opened again, I was surprised she was still concious, though she wasn't for long. Her skin was red, and just after falling to the floor she vomited before suffering a seizure. The second person that fell through the door with her did pretty much the same thing, step by step."

He turned over a page.

"Wait, there was anoth-?" Anzu stopped herself. Of course there was another... Sodoko... could she be... in that other bed on the opposite side of the wing?

The doctor was so excited to tell someone else about this medical anomaly he didn't hear Anzu and carried on reading.

"Further cases and symptons of ataxia and tremor, and shortly after bringing her into the infirmary all of her vital signs ceased to function for two minutes, so I pronounced her dead. I covered her up, but heard her coughing shortly afterwards, and when I removed the cover I saw that all of her visible surface skin had become necrotic as if she had been dead for several decades!"

By this point Anzu was by Mako's bedside getting a closer look at her. She didn't smell like a rotting corpse, those were meant to smell really bad, weren't they?

The doctor continued his findings, "I put her back on the heart monitor and the RadAway, but her body seemed to be rejecting the latter. Based on the coughing, it sounds like her vocal chords have deteriorated and her breathing can be a bit raspy. She hasn't been awake since she... died. The second patient regained conciousness roughly thirty seconds later, she is also on the monitor and her body also rejected RadAway."

"*cough* Are you quite finished, doctor?" spoke the rotting body.

Anzu couldn't help but grow a smile on her face to see Mako in a state where she could muster up some cheek. The doctor gawked and took to scribbling more notes on a new page of the clipboard.

"Hi... president," Mako mustered, her pupils peeking through semi closed eyelids. Sure enough, her voice certainly was raspy. Anyone who knew her could tell it was her, but it sounded like a bad cold was on the verge of completely stealing her voice.

"How are you feeling?" Anzu sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"I feel like fucking shit."

"You look worse," Anzu couldn't help it and semi regretted it straight away. She was still smiling, simply glad to see Mako alive.

"Hilarious," was the unamused response. "Hi- *cough* Hi Kawashima."

"I am glad to see you in... good health, miss Rezei," Momo said with a bow, though she wasn't sure she said the right thing.

"So... where are we?"

"Underground," Anzu responded, "We're in the vault. Do you not remember entering it?"

"Now that you mention it, kind of, but barely-" and before she could speak again she went into a violent coughing fit, the kind of hard coughs that sounded like they fluttered the lungs. She pulled a hand out from under the covers to cup her mouth, and everyone saw that the rotten flesh didn't stop at her face, even her hands were necrotic, just as gaunt as fer face, almost skeletal.

"What's... what's going to happen to me?" she asked once she finally was able to settle down.

"You're going to get to a state where you can comfortably move, and then as Overseer I am going to make sure you have the best living conditions the vault has to offer."

" _You're_ the Overseer?"

"Sure am!" Anzu said with a grin, she held up two fingers in a V sign, palm side out.

"Well, we're doomed," Mako said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Anzu didn't take that to heart, she put on an exaggerated pouty face. "Have some faith in your old student president. I'm part of the reason the school was saved twice, remember!"

Mako chuckled, before going into a second, but slightly less violent, coughing fit.

"If I may, ladies," the doctor stepped forward. "Miss Rezei's awakening was quite unexpected and I'm not completely comfortable with her having visitors while I'm so unsure of her medical state. So could we-"

"We will leave, doctor," Anzu said. "But we want to see Sodoko first."

"Sodoko, miss Overseer?"

"The person I am assuming the second patient to be."

The doctor looked over to the bed on the opposite side of the wing. That pretty much confirmed Anzu's suspicion. She didn't even wait for a response, she strode past him with Momo in tow.

"Err... miss Overseer..."

Anzu ignored him, and inspected the body. It was the same as Mako, rotting flesh, missing lips, mostly bald with only a few clumps of hair retaining the helmet shape, face very gaunt. But it was Sodoko alright.

And her eyes fluttered open.

"P-prez?" she rasped.

"Hey, trooper,"Anzu smiled. "How you doing?"

Sodoko responded with a few coughs, hers sounded wheezy compared to Mako. "I've felt better. I've seen how I look. I'm... not quite over it yet," Sure enough, she did sound quite shaken.

"Sodo..." Anzu started, before catching herself, "Midoriko," Anzu's smile was now gone. "I am... so... so... so sorry for this."

"*cough* Prez, I appreciate the apology, but I really don't want to be hearing it right now. For now, let's just stick to the positive and be glad I'm alive."

Anzu was at the very least relieved that Sodoko wasn't angry with her.

"I'm going to stay in this bed until I can actually move, and then we're going to run this vault like clockwork, just like we planned."

"Sure, Sodoko, that sounds like a good idea," Anzu smiled again.

"Could you please stop-," and then she went into a bit of a violent coughing fit, enough to make the heart monitor beep faster. "Oh, never mind," she said once she'd settled down.

"Miss Overseer," The doctor was being a little more stern now, "I must ask that you now leave so that I can tend to my patients."

"Sure, doc," Anzu said, she gave Sodoko one last look. "Take care."

"Thanks, pr- Overseer."

As Anzu left the curtain area, she gave a goodbye to Mako as well, who responded in kind. They made their way down the wing towards the exit of the infirmary. The robot gave them another greeting as they passed, which Anzu returned this time with a bow, and they exited the infirmary.

"So what now, Overseer?"

"Well, I'd like to see how Yuzu is getting on with the room distribution and see if we can-"

"Pardon me Overseer, but I meant with miss Rezei and miss Sono. What are we going to do if this is how they're going to look from now on? Would the other vault residents be comfortable living amongst them?"

Anzu pondered for a moment before answering, "Then we'd better make sure the Morals Committee is enforceful in their namesake."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Just in case I get called out on it: yes, Anzu being an Overseer was SovietKitty's idea first, the author of _Three_. However, I feel like that this is on the border of being a rip off. In _Three_ , vault life plays a very small role, as the focus is on the adventure on the surface, so Anzu being the Overseer in that story is more of a quirk than anything, a nod to how the student council president on a school ship has so much power that it carries over to being an Overseer. I felt that it was downplayed too, as it was just established and then forgotten about. Which is OK! As I said, the focus in that story is on the adventure on the surface.**

 **However, in my story, vault life is a little more relevant. And Anzu being established as the Overseer isn't a small thing, there's an entire scene dedicated to showing the reaction of the residents. So, I feel like I took the _seed_ of the idea and grew something else with it, rather than uprooting the tree and running away cackling.**

 **But otherwise, this chapter was hella fun to write. The infirmary scene actually went through two re-writes. I knew for a while that I wanted someone to be turned into a ghoul, and it was originally going to be just Sodoko. It made sense, since Sodoko would be one of the last inside the vault, and I liked the idea of Anzu feeling guilty. But it didn't make sense in the long term, since I do eventually want to leave the vault with a handful of characters, and I wanted a ghoul to travel with them... just not Sodoko :P**

 **So I thought, what if I turned Mako into a ghoul? But then I'd lose the Anzu guilt, and it wouldn't really make sense for Mako to be left outside while all of the Morals Committee, the guys who were _meant_ to be coming in last, made it in unscathed. Then I thought "Well, why not do both?!"**

 **And before someone calls me out on it: you CAN make a ghoul by direct exposure to shit loads of radiation, and I mean _shit loads_! It happens in Fallout 3 if you blow up Megaton.**

 **Admittedly** **, a ghoul is meant to be made by prolonged exposure to radiation, but I couldn't think of a way to implement this short of a radiation leak in the vault, which would open up the plot hole "well why doesn't _everyone_ turn into a ghoul?"**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it.**


	6. Good Neighbours

**Chapter 6: Good Neighbours**

* * *

Miho chucked her bag onto her new bunk bed.

"I call the top!" Yukari said loudly and clambered onto the bed above Miho.

"What do you think the chances are that we got allocated to the same permanent room?" Saori asked, laying her own bag down onto the bottom bunk on the opposite side of the room, which was pretty much identical to the one they had just left not too long ago. She had put on the Vault 131 jumpsuit so she didn't have to go back into the halls in her pyjamas.

"I'm going to guess that Yuzu was in charge of room allocation and might've influenced it," Miho suggested, sitting on her bed.

A large ball of fluffy hair suddenly dangled in front of her as Yukari peered over the bed, almost completely upside down. "What makes you think Yuzu was in charge?"

Miho reflexively leaned back from this sudden invasion of personal space. "Well, if Momo is part of Anzu's Overseer team, I don't see why Yuzu also wouldn't be. Databases, accountancy and general secretary duties were what they left her to."

"Fair assumption, miss Nishizumi!" And Yukari pulled herself back up onto her bunk, sat up, crossed her legs and unzipped her bag to start pulling things out.

"So... we're roommates then?" Saori asked, lying sideways on her bed, holding her head up in a hand propped on her elbow.

"Sure looks like it!" Yukari said excitedly, and then stared into the middle distance and dropped her jaw as she realised, "I get to share a room with miss Nishizumi!"

Miho giggled. "Yes Yukari, yes you do."

Yukari rubbed her head all over, her fingers being buried and lost in the piles of fluff that made up her hair. "Oooooh, it's like a dream come true!"

Saori and Miho exchanged expressions and tried to burst out laughing, both were pursing their lips to hold back guffaws.

After a minute, Saori asked, "So who do you reckon our fourth roommate is? There's only four beds, someone from Anglerfish Team is going to have to be the odd one out."

"I'm not sure," Miho answered, then frowned as she started to wonder. "You know how miss Erwin said that her room was only a few doors down from ours?"

"Yeah..."

"Do you reckon Yuzu put the rest of Hippo Team in there as well?"

"Well... she could've done," Saori answered. "Why do you ask?"

"What if _all_ of the Tankery club were in this hall?"

Saori looked back and forth between Yukari and Miho.

"We could check," she suggested. "And if the answer's 'no', we can start making friends with the neighbours."

"Good idea!" Miho said.

The three girls decided to wait a while before knocking on the other doors in the hall, to give their neighbours a chance to settle in. But eventually, they left their room.

They went to the next door down and Miho knocked. The doors on the dormitories had a switch that set whether or not the door reacted to motion sensitivity on both sides.

With a smile and a rocking motion on her feet with her friends behind her, Miho waited for the door to be answered. The door hissed open, and the familiar face of Azusa, Rabbit Team's commander, greeted them.

"Hi, miss Nishizumi!" she said.

"Hello, Azusa," Miho cheerfully greeted back.

She looked over her to see Aya swinging her dangling legs from atop a bunk bed, and Yuki and Saki sitting on another bed with the former's arm wrapped around the shoulder of the latter. Saki was just as blank as ever.

"Hi, girls!" she called out to them.

"Hi, miss Nishizumi!" Aya and Yuuki waved back.

"So you all managed to get a room together!" Miho said to Azusa.

"Well, not all of us. Ayumi got put with Anteater Team."

"Oh, so Anteater Team are all sharing the same room?"

"Yeah, they're just next door, actually," Azusa pointed, "Which is lucky, it means we're not far from Ayumi!"

Miho looked over her shoulder at her friends with a slightly smug smile. Yeah, Yuzu definitely influenced the room allocation.

"Are you three in a room together?" Azusa asked with a quizzical look.

"Actually, yes we are!" Miho answered.

"That's... convenient."

"I think the rooms have been tweaked to put the Tankery club in the same hall, Hippo Team aren't too far down."

"Oh, cool!" Azusa exclaimed.

"If you ever need anything, just let us know. We're just next door."

"Thanks, miss Nishizumi."

"Well, we better go, lots of doors to knock on!"

"See you around!"

The three knocked on ever door in the hall, and sure enough, each one housed one of the teams of the Ooarai Tankery club. There were two doors that didn't answer to them knocking, and Miho guessed that these were the quarters of Turtle and Mallard team.

"Well, I must admit," Saori began as they trudged their way back to their dorm after saying goodbye to Leopon Team, "Ignoring the fact the bombs dropped, today has been a pretty good day!"

"What's with the sudden change?" Miho asked.

"Well, we've got a nice room, with comfy beds and our friends aren't far!" she then pinched the jumpsuit she was wearing and tugged on it, looking down at the fabric with a disgusted face. "Even if we do have to wear these."

"I just hope that Isuzu is OK..." Yukari said sadly.

The other two grumbled an agreement, but their spirits were to be raised once again when they returned to their room.

"Hana!" they cried, scaring the latter half to death. She had been hunched over her open suitcase at the base of Saori's bed with her back turned to the door. She quickly turned with a hand over her heart from the sudden surprise.

"You're all OK!" she cried back, and then held her arms out to catch Saori who was giving out another one of her tackling hugs.

"It's so good to see you!" Miho said.

"And you!" Hana replied, as Saori released her.

"Where have you been?" Saori asked. "And how did you get a suitcase down here?"

"I was visiting my mother when the alarm was raised," Hana explained. "I've been with her for most of my time down here. And..." she giggled looking at the suitcase. "Mother had a suitcase packed for when the bombs fell and Shinzaborou had to carry it along with her own."

"So Shinzaborou and your mother are safe down here?" Yukari asked.

"Oh yes," Hana said, her tone just as sweet and mature as ever, "They're quite alright."

"Then..." Saori turne to Miho, "that's everyone, isn't it? Everyone from the Tankery club is safe down here in the vault!"

"No..." Miho said. "We still haven't seen anyone from Mallard Team..."

"Oh yeah!" Saori said. "Where could they be?"

"I don't know..." Miho answered. "The last time I saw Sodoko was this morning at the school gates, pointing everyone to the buses."

"Gosh... I hope they're OK."

Nothing else was said. An awkward silence settled over them.

"Hey, Yukari," Hana didn't sound faltered at all by what was being said; secretly on the inside she wanted to distract her friends from their worries and knew that the first step to doing that would be to not seem worried herself, "Do you know how the Pip-Boy works?"

Yukari's face lit up like it was Christmas.

"I sure do! Miss Erwin and I were playing around with them earlier!"

"Do you think you could show me," she held up her left arm which had the Pip-Boy strapped on. "It's a confusing little thing."

"Yes, Hana, I'd be happy to!"

* * *

After helping Hana unpack her things, the girls took to deciding amongst themselves how they were going to allocate personal space. There were four drawers in the fairly large chest of drawers unit, so that problem sorted itself out. Everyone seemed to have had the initiative to pack a couple of spare sets of clothes in their emergency backpacks, though Hana seemed to have five.

There was a friendly argument over who would get extra space on the three shelves, though Miho opted out of that debate and just watched and laughed at the other three trying to evenly divide the space.

She had a bit more of a fiddle around with her Pip-Boy. She decided not to look at the Status screen lest it scare her away again, and she was determined to figure this thing out. She clicked a dial over to the _Radio_ label, and was somewhat disappointed to find an empty list of frequencies.

She clicked the dial to the _Map_ label. The local map, a click of a different dial later, showed the labyrinthine layout of Vault 131. The world map was blank, save for a slowly pulsating green arrow in the centre.

Well so far, the Pip-Boy was turning out to be useless.

* * *

Once they had packed away their things, the place felt homely. It didn't look much better, Hana had even mentioned that a nice flower in a tall vase on the diner table in the corner of the room would do wonders to brighten the place up. But after packing away their clothes, arranging their books, Yukari's tank models (just Yukari's), and shoving their backpacks out of the way under their beds, they couldn't deny that there'd be worse places to spend the next year while the fallout settled. Like the surface, for example.

Hana's stomach was starting to growl, and the girls realised that they didn't know how food distribution was meant to work.

"Well... there's a mess hall," Yukari reminded everyone. "They'll be food there, right?"

They decided to go to the mess hall in an attempt to find food. Sure enough, there were fairly large food dispensers there that they had missed when they were last here. They were large and bulky, nothing like a vending machine, though the concept seemed to be the same.

There were a few groups of people chowing down on food of their own, keeping to themselves. When the girls were served their orders of ramen, they took their trays and sat down at a table.

"It's... kinda like school," Saori said, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than make an observation.

Miho barely heard her as she was mostly paying attention to a spherical, multi-armed robot floating around on a jet picking up trays with a pincer arm and stacking them.

They ate their food, though Hana seemed to shovel hers away. The food certainly wasn't awful, if there was anything that was going to make them go mad for being underground for a year, it wasn't going to be hunger or lack of savoury.

Miho noticed that Yukari had been eating her food very slowly, though now she seemed to just be swirling the noodles around in the broth with her chopsticks, her head propped up on her arm.

"Yukari, are you OK?" Miho asked after swallowing her last mouthful of ramen.

Yukari sighed and put her chopsticks down. Saori stopped eating to listen in, though Hana was none the wiser and was gulping broth down by pouring the bowl into her mouth.

"Do you..." Yukari started, and then stopped. She kind of felt silly for what she was about to bring up, though it was something genuinely worrying her. "Do you think the tanks are alright?"

Miho wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't say she was surprised that this was what was bothering Yukari.

"Maybe!" she answered as cheerfully as she could, though she didn't really believe it. "They were on the ship, in a garage, and I doubt the bomb drop was direct enough on the town to cause too much damage to them!"

"It's possible," Yukari mumbled.

She wondered how much she should discuss this with her friends. She wasn't just worried that the tanks were... gone. She was sad that she wouldn't get to see them for a year, and she was also worried - and this was the silliest thing of all - that the tanks would get lonely. She knew it was a childish thing to think, but with what she had been through with her friends while riding inside those metal monsters, she had felt like she'd grown close to them, to the point she almost thought of them as having feelings. Like a teddy bear.

"I hope we get to see them again soon," Yukari sighed, forcing a small smile.

* * *

"This is going to be weird, sleeping in the same room together," Saori said, slipping under the covers of her bed, once again back in her pink cotton pyjamas.

"I think it'll wear off soon enough," said Hana, as she climbed the ladder in her own silver silk nightwear.

"It's almost like we're in the military!" Yukari said from atop her bed.

"Yeah, except the beds are comfy, we're not in sleeping bags and we don't have to worry about a drill sergeant waking us to ask us why we haven't polished the door knobs," Miho giggled as she came out of the bathroom in her own pyjamas.

The room fell silent.

"That sounded very personal, Miporin," Saori mumbled.

"Eurgh, I guess that wasn't funny," Miho blushed, and quickly got into her bed to hide her face under the covers sooner.

"Hey, you guys don't mind if I fiddle with my Pip-Boy for a bit do you?" Yukari asked.

"I don't mind, we're already going to bed early," Hana responded, "so just don't do it until silly o'clock!"

"Yeah, I'm reading a book for a bit," said Saori as she rummaged in her handbag before sliding it under her bed, "so I don't mind."

"Magazines aren't books, Saori," Hana said.

"You still read them, don't you?" Saori challenged with a huff.

Miho smiled, then frowned again as she realised she had to be the stick in the mud, "Guys, someone needs to turn the light off."

"Don't they turn off at set times?" Yukari puzzled.

"Do they?" Miho pondered, wondering where Yukari heard that from.

"Yeah, it's a pseudo-curfew system, they turn off at 10."

"Oh... OK," Miho retracted back into her covers and felt silly once again.

"Goodnight, everyone!" Hana called as she rolled over.

"Goodnight!" the girls in the room responded.

All that could be heard was the buzzing of the lights, the occasional click from Yukari as she turned the dials on her Pip-Boy, a flick of a page from Saori, and a shuffle from Hana as she covered her head with her pillow when she realised how annoying the light buzzing was. And then, she started to snore. Loudly.

"Oh boy," Saori said after a few of Hana's snores. " _That's_ going to get annoying!"

The three girls giggled. A few minutes of otherwise silence passed as Miho drank in the atmosphere when Yukari decided to disturb the peace, "Hey, guys, there's a radio channel!"

"Really?" Saori asked. "How weird. Just the one?"

"Yeah," Yukari responded.

"Which one?" Saori asked as she put her magazine down to start fiddling with her own Pip-Boy.

"No idea, it just says 'Unknown frequency'."

"Well, have a listen to it," Miho suggested, "It might be one of our only sources of entertainment down here."

"Tuning into it now!" Yukari responded.

And a couple of clicks later... " _Good evening... everybody_ ," the voice sounded timid, unsure, but trying to put effort in, like they were trying to give a presentation to an audience. " _My name is Musen._ "

" _And I am Ongaku,_ "spoke a second, slightly deeper voice.

" _And we are the Broadcast Brothers,_ " the first one spoke again.

" _Brodcast Brothers? Where did that come from?_ "

" _Umm... I'm not sure. We just introduced ourselves and it felt right to complete the introduction as a group._ "

" _And the 'Broadcast Brothers' was the first thing you came up with?_ " the second guy chuckled.

" _Hey, it just popped into my head! We don't have to use it!_ "

" _Actually, I kinda like it._ "

" _Then why did you make fun of it, then?!_ " the two were really starting to loosen up now, that last jape was obviously said in jest, the girls could hear the smile on the man's face.

" _Because it's still a dumb name!_ "

" _Well, yeah, I'm not denying that!_ " and the two laughed together. The girls also giggled along, Yukari was hanging off the side of the bunk slightly with Miho peering up and Saori turned on her side. And Hana was still snoring away.

" _Anyway,_ " said the second guy. " _As before, good evening people of Japan. I... guess we are the Broadcast Brothers and we are here to bring you good vibes and hopes in these dark times. My colleague and I will be providing you with quality commentary and songs for the foreseeable future, so stay tuned._ "

" _Seeing as how it's coming up to most people's bedtime, we thought-_ "

" _Bedtime?!_ " the second guy scoffed. " _They're not kids!_ "

" _And how do you know? Adults still have a bedtime! What else would you call it?_ "

The second guys just responded with a chuckle.

" _As I was saying,_ " the first guy started again. " _Since it is coming up to most peoples' moment in the measurable space known as time when they would close their eyes to fall into an unconscious state known as 'sleep' which we shall now refer to from hereon as BEDTIME!_ " He paused to give his colleague a moment to retaliate. " _We thought that for our first song for you tonight, we would play something relaxing._ "

" _Sweet dreams, don't let the bed bugs bite._ "

" _Oh, shut up._ "

And the two lightly laughed and their voices faded. A moment later and the slow, comforting sounds of blues music started, complete with scratching.

"I think I just found our regular radio channel," Yukari whispered with a smile.

"I think you have, Yukari," Miho whispered back.

The three girls settled back down into their beds, listening to the sounds of saxophones and light drumming relaxing them. Miho closed her eyes, and found peace. She was underground, safe from the bombs, with her friends. All of them. They were all alive. All of her closest, most personal friends.

Wait.

What about her sister Maho? And Alice?

"Ah! Yukari turn that off!" Saori hissed.

Miho's eyes shot open with a start. The room was dark, the lights were off, except for a very bright green blow emanating from the bunk bed above her.

"Gah! Sorry!" Yukari whispered back. "Found the light switch, though!"

And then the light went out. Miho blinked a couple of times. The tiff between the two girls had been what woke her up, but she remembered pondering something while asleep, something important. What was it? Gargh! That was going to annoy her!

She tucked herself back into bed and tried to fall back asleep. Other than Hana's snoring, all was quiet.

* * *

 _1 week later..._

The second residents gathering went as well as the Council (which everyone continued to call them) could have hoped. While it was obvious that everyone still wasn't comfortable with children being in charge, they couldn't deny that they had proven to have decent organisation skills and Vault-Tec's contract was binding. Plus, everyone now knew that the Morals Committee, which was under the Council's thumb, had access to the armoury. Anzu wasn't particularly happy with using threats to keep rule, but decided that if she didn't want a repeat of that near riot breakout, she needed some fear to be circulating.

The Council delegated tasks to adults who could perform them the most efficiently. The vault had a decent supply of Mister Handys (as they had discovered to be called), the multi-armed robots, which could assist in the more complicated tasks, such as maintaining the nuclear powered fuel generator. Nobody was particularly willing to volunteer for that position, for some unbeknownst reason.

Vault 131 was fitted with classrooms, though not many; if they stuck to a standard school schedule they only had half the necessary classrooms for the number of students they had. So school days for students were staggered, half of them would have a school day, then take a day off the next while the other half had theirs.

Anzu was aware of the widespread dislike the community felt towards her. She had managed to get the support of the students, who all knew her well enough to know that she was actually a fairly decent ruler; heck, they were the ones who voted for her to be president four years in a row! Anzu was receiving at least one report a day from a Morals Committee member saying they overheard a resident voicing their "frustration" (to put it in nice terms) with the council,

Anzu ignored it, she was hoping that this would die down once the adults had time to get used to her, though she encouraged the Committee members to keep giving her these reports.

* * *

Sodoko and Mako stood facing each other, peering.

Mako blinked a couple of times and then finally spoke, "Yeah, you definitely look worse."

Sodoko put her hands on her hips and leant forwards. " _I_ look worse?! At least I managed to keep my nose!"

"It's the hair," Mako dead panned, or at least as much as she could with a voice like gravel, "It's weird, your hair looks completely ridiculous up until the helmet shape is complete and then it only looks... mildly ridiculous."

" _Excuse_ me?!"

"Ladies, ladies, please," Anzu stepped forward and motion her hands up and down, though the smile on her face gave away she was enjoying this and didn't actually want it to stop, "You're going to be spending a lot of time together now, don't start fighting before you've even completely moved in!"

"Overseer, do I _really_ have to share a room with Rezei?" Sodoko thrust a pointing finger in Mako's direction.

"It's honestly for the best, Sodoko," Anzu responded. "We're afraid for your well being if you mingle with the vault residents."

"Couldn't I at least get some more members of the Committee to share the room with?"

"That would be unfair on Mako," Anzu said, which Sodoko groaned in response. Anzu finished, "If its just the two of you, you'll have each other to keep company. Come on Sodoko, this'll be good bonding for you both!"

"So long as you don't snore," Mako spoke up, "And I get to visit my other friends, I don't care where I sleep."

"That's a point actually," Sodoko addressed Anzu, " _Do_ we get to see other people?"

"Of course you do!" Anzu cheerily responded. "Go speak to your friends, sure! Just try keeping it to just that though, your friends."

"My friends is all I'll need," Mako said and then sauntered over to her bed to start unpacking the bag on top of it.

The two ghouls had been provided a two bedroom quarters, in much the same layout as the two bunk rooms most of the other residents had been sleeping in for the past week. It was also closer to the Overseer's office.

"So Mako," Anzu started, "Are you OK for Anglerfish Team to visit you?"

Miho had been trying to insist on going to see Mako in the infirmary, but Anzu didn't like the idea. She knew that she herself hadn't taken to the shock of Mako's condition really well so she wasn't comfortable with Anglerfish Team visiting her. She would be OK for Miho or even Hana to go and see her, it was the overly sensitive Saori and the socially awkward Yukari Anzu was worried about, but she didn't want to limit Mako's visitors to an arbitrary selection, so she insisted on Miho waiting until Mako was out of the hospital.

Mako actually visibly smiled at the mention of her Tankery team, she was frozen in place pulling something out of her bag as she thought about them. She turned her head to Anzu and gave a nod, "Yeah, I'll be happy to see them."

"Wonderful! I'll go fetch them, I'd be happier if the reunion was here rather than scaring the residents with you two wandering around."

"Then how will we ever be able to show ourselves if you're so afraid of that?" Sodoko questioned.

"Word will get around," Anzu gave the answer confidently though in reality, she had put little thought into how these two would merge with the other residents of the vault. "See you ladies, I'm off to find Miho!"

Mako and Sodoko unpacked their things with barely a word shared between them. The two were dressed in the Vault 197 jumpsuits and had their own Pip-Boys around their wrists. Mako had found the jumpsuit to be quite comfy, a good form of attire for the kind of person who took regular naps. Sodoko wore it because she needed to keep appearances up, much like the rest of the Morals Committee and the Council, though Anzu also wore the suit because she had found to have a likeness for tighter fitting clothes, something she found out last year when they did the Ankou dance.

At some point, Sodoko finally said something, "We may be roommates now, but we still need to maintain a professional business relationship. I am the head of Morals Committee that polices the vault, and you are a resident."

"Sure," was all Mako mumbled. She genuinely didn't care. She would certainly like to have a good friendship with Sodoko, but only because that would make living with her easier. But if she wanted to make it difficult, Mako wasn't even going to bother lest it turn from an 'acquaintance' into 'mutual dislike'.

"And do make sure you keep yourself out of trouble with the other residents. We're still not sure how they're going to take to us."

"Sure."

"The Overseer has informed me that our meals will be provided for us so we don't cause discomfort to the other residents in the mess hall."

"Sure."

"And I have to stick to a tight sleeping schedule because of my position, so you may be regularly woken up from my shuffling around."

"Like _fuck_ I'm going to-"

"Mako-o-o-o-o-o-o!" came a cry from the door.

Mako dropped what she was holding onto the bed and looked. It was Saori, who had started to run for her with her arms open but stopped halfway across the room to put her hands to her mouth. Miho, Yukari and Hana were also at the door, staring in disbelief. Anzu was also there.

"Hey guys," Mako said, her voice making it sound like she smoked five packs a day while in the hospital.

"Mako..." Saori managed, and then she noticed the other ghoul. "And Sodoko..."

"Midoriko Sono!" Sodoko corrected with an almost shout, which along with the surprise of the ruptured vocal chords make Saori jump.

Mako approached Saori. She was bending slightly at her knees, shaking like a leaf. Her hands were covering her mouth, shocked by the sight of her childhood friend in this state. If she listened closely, Mako could hear slightly laboured breathing as Saori was trying hard not to cry.

Mako put a hand on her shoulder. Saori looked at her, at Mako's face, her rotten, necrotic, brown, gaunt, shrivelled face. Her lips were completely gone, revealing her browning teeth. All of her hair had fallen out, showing a scalp as disturbing as the rest of her. Her nose was also gone, that was probably the most noticeable feature, other than the flesh. Two oval holes were instead cut into the middle of her face where she breathed from.

When Mako put her hand on Saori's shoulder, it felt like a skeleton was touching her. The two looked at each other for a brief moment, and then Mako reached out with her other hand and pulled Saori into a hug.

Saori reached around with her arms to complete the hug, still shaking, her lip quivering.

"It's still me, Saori," Mako tried to say as soothingly as she could, which slightly worked, but she still sounded ill.

"Mako..." Saori whispered, "This... this is..." she wanted to say "horrible", "awful", but those were all completely the wrong things to say.

Sounds of light footsteps on metal could be heard as the rest of Anglerfish Team came over to greet their friend.

Mako pulled Saori away, with a little struggle.

"Miss Rezei..." Yukari started, "What... happened?"

Mako huffed and looked down.

"I got locked out of the vault when the first bomb dropped," she said.

Shocked gasps from the rest of the team. Miho and Hana had their hand to their mouths, Yukari's eyes widened and Saori couldn't hold back a sob.

"Sodoko and I were cooked with..." she paused, looked puzzled for a moment and then turned to look at her ghoulish partner, "How much radiation did the doctor say we absorbed?"

Sodoko also paused for a moment, completely frozen in her pose like a statue as she lost herself in thought to remember.

"3617," she finally said, and went back to pulling a pile of clothes out of her bag.

"Three..." Yukari shook her head, " _Thousand_?"

"Is that a lot?" Hana asked.

Yukari clicked a few dials on her Pip-Boy, showed Hana the Status screen and pointed to the rad measurer.

"1000 is enough to guarantee death," she said.

"Then... how did you survive?!" Saori demanded from Mako.

"The doctor's not sure, he's never seen anything like it. We should've both died. His best theory is that we just absorbed _so much_ so quickly that it instantly mutated us."

"But... what has _actually_ happened to you?" Miho asked.

"What do you mean?" Mako asked.

"I mean..." Miho tilted her head from side to side trying to think of how to word it. "Your skin, your voice, and you say that you've mutated. What has it done to you?"

"Well... my flesh is dead and rotten, he thinks, he's not sure," Mako wondered for a bit. "Most of me is rotten and dead, though... not. It's weird, he says that what is left is similar to a cancer tumour, but since the tumour now _is_ my skin it doesn't behave like a conventional tumour and try to kill me... I don't know, that's my interpretation of what he said, he made it sound a lot smarter than I did." She wondered a little more. "But apparently my body also rejects RadAway, which is an anomaly."

"Why would it do that?" Yukari asked.

"He didn't want to test it, but he's curious to know if our bodies might react differently to radiation, and by extension, RadAway."

The room fell silent for a moment as everyone tried to think of what to say next.

"So..." Yukari started, "What does this mean for you two?"

"We are to live in here. Together," Mako replied, "We need to keep minimum contact with residents that aren't our friends so we aren't discriminated."

"That's..." Miho was going to argue, but then stopped herself. It was horrible to think, but that was probably the best thing they could do. Citizens in a community were scared easily when introduced to something they didn't understand.

"But couldn't you at least _live_ with your friends?" Saori asked. "Or your grandmother?"

Mako went wide eyed and her jaw dropped a fraction to create a parting in her lips. And then she hung her head and stared directly at the floor. She mumbled something.

"What was that, Mako," Saori asked obliviously, but Miho could feel what was coming...

"My grandmother is dead..." Mako mumbled a little louder, and even with a voice that Batman would be jealous of, she was quavering.

Saori's own mouth hung open. Everyone else was too shocked to say anything. Miho closed her eyes and bit her lip, feeling the flexing in her throat as the tears started to pool up.

Saori reached out with a hand and touched Mako's shoulder, a complete turn around from five minutes ago. She pulled her into a hug. Mako just stood there, her eyes fixated on the floor, her arms dangling lifelessly by her side, and her breathing now stifled as she couldn't hold back the crying.

Saori wrapped both her arms around her childhood friend and ran her hand over her back in circles. Normally she'd be the one crying, but she felt like she needed to be the strong one for Mako's sake. She could feel Mako's bald, shrivelled head against her cheek, the mutation seemed to have sagged her skin slightly.

Just like a grandmother's.

Even Sodoko had stopped what she was doing to watch the embrace. The room had become utterly quiet, except for the occasional sniff and flexing breath from Mako.

"H-her hip-" Mako managed. "Gave-ve up when sh-she tried to..." she stopped for a moment to let out a few more flexing breaths and to sniff. Saori only hugged her tighter. "When she tried to run f-for..." it was no use. "FOR THE VAULT!"

She had completely lost her composure and was now in a state of full sobs. She wrapped her own arms around Saori and cried into her shoulder.

Mako didn't know what she was going to do now. Her last living family member was gone, she was trapped underground after the life she had known was levelled by some Chinese bastard's order to nuke it, and now her face looked like if Deadpool stuck his head in a vat of acid.

"You're not alone, Mako," Saori cooed, as if she was reading her thoughts, "You have us. We are here for you."

"Yes, Mako," Miho said sweetly, wiping her eyes, "we are."

"We couldn't leave you now even if he wanted to!" Yukari said, balling her hand into a fist at chest height and giving a light pump.

"And you have the support of the Council," Anzu said, stepping forward.

Mako heard it all, but couldn't bring herself to say anything back. She just stood there, locked into a hug with Saori. She could feel Saori's hair tickling the side of her head. She was never going to have hair like that ever again. Saori's fingers were so soft as they cupped the back of Mako's head like a child. Her bald, wrinkled, necrotic head.

Her gripped tightened on Saori's back to the point she was grabbing a fistful of the jumpsuit. She took a breath and released the grip.

"I just need some time," she said.

"Of course," Saori said, pulling Mako away from her. She put both hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length. Mako let her, her arms once again drpping lifelessly to her side.

Saori looked into her eyes with a smile. Mako couldn't smile back.

* * *

"Aya, we really shouldn't be doing this, we're going to get into trouble!"

"Come on Azusa, what's the worst they could possibly do? Don't you want to see all the cool shit they have in there?"

"Aya!" Azusa pouted, "Mind your language!"

"Sorry, _mom_ ," Aya giggled, as she activated the console on the wall.

"What if we get caught?" Azusa whispered.

"Ayumi is keeping a watch out," Aya responded as she tapped away at the keyboard. "She'll let us know if someone's coming."

"This is still stupid!" Azusa hissed.

"Then why are you still here?" Aya pressed the last key. " _ALARM_ " she read the password aloud.

"Where did you learn the password for the armoury?!" Azusa grabbed handfuls of her own hair.

"I spotted the Morals Committee typing it in on my way by once," Aya said nonchalantly, deactivating the console.

"Aya, do _not_ go into that room!" Azusa demanded.

Aya approached the door and it hissed open at her presence, when it would normally stay sealed shut. She smiled at her work and stepped through. Azusa sighed frustratedly and followed after her.

Inside was more than what the girls were expecting. It had become common knowledge by now that Vault 131 had an armoury stocked with riot gear, but they weren't expecting this. Along one wall alone was a rack of rifles and pistols; along another were open lockers with hanging riot armour suits; shoved into a corner was a table with several ammunition boxes piled neatly in several rows and stacks; at the base of each of the open lockers was a baton, a taser gun and... a grenade?

"Jesus..." Aya gasped at the sight.

"This is..." Azusa began and then the two girls squealed as the door suddenly hissed closed behind them. They grabbed each other in their panic.

They shared a glance and then let go.

"Isn't this cool, Azusa?" Aya asked, looking around.

"No Aya, this isn't! We are going to get into so much trouble for this!"

"What do you suppose they need guns for anyway?" Aya asked. "I've never seen a gun before." She approached the rack of rifles and reached out to touch one.

"Aya, no!" Azusa whispered harshly. "You can't touch those!"

"Why not? I ride a tank, what's touching a gun going to do?" she said, but still stopped, because something else caught her attention. There was another door in the room, in the far corner.

Azusa noticed her looking at it. They both stared at it, the same thought crossing their mind.

"What do you suppose is in there?" Aya asked.

What was so special that it needed to be behind a second door in the armoury? Aya let her curiosity overtake her and she approached it. Azusa couldn't help but admit - only to herself, though - that she was also curious as to what could be in there.

Aya pondered out loud as she approached it, "I wonder if it's loc-"

The door hissed open to her approach and she jumped back slightly.

"Guess not," she said, readjusting her glasses. "Wait... what is that?"

The two girls moved closer for a better look inside. It was a very small room, almost like a broom cupboard, but it needed its own door for a very good reason. There was only one thing inside it. It looked humanoid in its shape, almost like a suit, but it was far too bulky and enlarged to actually be one... right?

It was hunched over slightly, standing on its own two legs, bent at the knees. Its shoulders were also relaxed to give it a slouching posture. What really caught their attention was the shape of the mask. With the oval eyes, the slightly downcast mouth and the cast of metal that fanned out from the back slightly wrapped around the shape of the head, it made it look like a samurai-

No, it wasn't a mask, it was a helmet. A helmet, on this suit. This suit of bulky armour. They could also see pipes that extruded from underneath the rather large and protruding chin that wrapped around the back of the helmet.

The armour had a base colour of dark crimson, with a dark shade of white for some of the plates of the shins, forearms, abdomen and the backs of the hands. The helmet was a very dark grey, with gold rims around the eyes, the mouth and the rivets in the metal cast.

In white text on its chest it read,

 _Dengen Yoroi S-03_

"Power armour..." Aya read aloud.

"Aya!" someone whispered from the armoury door. Azusa and Aya turned to see Ayumi. "Someone's coming, a Morals member!"

"Scarper!" Aya hissed to Azusa and bolted for the door, not waiting for her. Azusa regained herself, took one last look at the sleeping suit that towered over her, and chased after her friend.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Had a wee bit of writer's block with this one, so that's why it's delayed. I wrote a first draft and it just didn't feel complete, despite being ~4k words (these chapters are getting bigger and bigger). So I added some extra bits, I hope it's up to my usual "quality".**


	7. Worry, Worry, Worry

**Chapter 7: Worry, Worry, Worry**

* * *

Anzu huffed a sigh of frustration and leant back in her Overseer's chair and pinched the bridge of her nose. Work. Boy did she hate it. This was why she had subordinates to do it all for her, but Yuzu had made it quite clear that she was beginning to get sick of just being Anzu's proxy for all the work and responsibility she couldn't be bothered to do. Which was all of it. This had lead to quite a heated discussion the day before.

"Overseer, I just can't deal with this anymore!"

"Yuzu, don't be silly, it's only been a week!" Anzu responded, waving her subordinate's comment away. "Just take the day off and you'll feel better."

Yuzu sighed. She wasn't quite angry enough for the infamous one time of the year she was legitimately upset. Yet.

"Overseer, please, just listen to me for a moment..."

"Yuzu!" Anzu cooed. "I get it that stress is building, so all you need is just one day off to cool your head, go relax!" she waved her hand with a smile.

Yuzu balled her fist and took a deep breath. Truth be told, stress was getting to her. The administration of moving into the vault still wasn't completely sorted, there were resident requests to take care of, some children still weren't matched with their parents (if they even had parents anymore) and Yuzu had her own school days to worry about. But what the Overseer was asking her to do was pushing her over the edge, and it was all because of her own laziness.

She spoke quickly and sharply so Anzu couldn't interrupt her again, "Kadotani, I am _not_ writing the Overseer report!"

"Oh, but you'd make such a great one! You'd certainly make one that Vault-Tec would be proud of!"

"No, Kadotani!" Yuzu raised her voice. "I will do your majority paperwork for you but the Overseer's report is _your_ responsibility! So could you please muster up some effort and do your own fucking work for a change!"

Silence.

Anzu pursed her lip. Yuzu brought her hand up to her gaping mouth.

"O-Overseer... I'm-"

Anzu raised a hand to silence her, a sweet potato slice gripped between her thumb and finger. Her face brightened as she popped it into her mouth and chewed on it.

"Yuzu, I am sorry," she said with a mouthful, and then she swallowed and adopted her stern, serious expression that really juxtaposed with the usual cheery smile and happy eyes she often wore. "I didn't realise it was quite that bad. I will do the Overseer's report tomorrow. You can have the rest of today and tomorrow off."

"B-but there's so much paperwork..."

"Kawashima and I will deal with that."

Anzu had sounded so confident at the time. She had been sure she could've dealt with it if she had Momo's help. But now she was actually sitting at her desk writing the Overseer's report, she had forgotten how much she hated doing work.

For want of taking a break for just a moment, she saved the document and opened another document. The document was labelled ' _Overseer Responsibilities_ ' and it was locked into the computer, it couldn't be edited, moved or deleted, only opened. It looked similar to the contract Anzu had signed about a fortnight ago with the Vault-Tec representative. She scrolled down to the section she was looking for, to read it for the fifth time that day to make sure she was writing the document properly (and of course to act as a momentary distraction).

 **5 - Overseer's Report**

 **5.1 - It is the responsibility of the Overseer of the vault to conduct a written report. This report must be written in certain intervals, those of which shall change and become wider as time goes on.**

 **5.1.1 - A report is expected to be written every day of the first week of inhabiting the vault. Henceforth, a report shall be written every week for two months, followed by a report every one month.**

 **5.2 - The Overseer's Report is a written report on the reaction, thoughts and attitude the residents of the vault have towards the vault's governing bodies (that being the Overseer themselves and any subordinates the Overseer elects, which under clause 1.4 cannot be over the age of 17).**

 **5.2.1 - The report must be detailed. Points must be made regarding the aforementioned thoughts of the residents towards the Overseer and these points must be elaborated on with evidence to support them.**

Anzu huffed a mock laugh. She had read this contract several times, yet it never seemed less ridiculous. "A report on the reaction, thoughts and attitude the residents have towards the Overseer". If she had known what that had actually meant on the day she was asked to sign that contract, she would've thrown the pen across the room. How _would_ she describe how the residents felt about her? Depends on who you asked. The adults hated her, they couldn't understand why - and Anzu was starting to wonder herself - a child was in charge of the vault. She was tempted to just write 'loathed' on the document and call it done, but Momo had insisted that that wasn't "detailed" enough.

She closed the document and opened her report again. She wondered if all the other vaults were like this, electing children to be in charge. Maybe it was just a quirk of this one vault and the others had their own that made them unique, like a vault that played white noise tracks with subliminal messages in them as the residents went to sleep. She brushed aside the silly intrusive thought.

She typed away some more. Quarter of an hour later and she only wrote a couple of hundred extra words. She slammed her elbows onto the desk and held her head in her hands. She hated this.

She couldn't take it anymore. Anzu grabbed the drawer in her desk and yanked it open. To her horror, only two bags of sweet potatoes slid around inside.

"Have I really eaten that much...?" she wondered aloud.

She couldn't go without sweet potatoes, she needed to ration them... but she _really_ needed a stress reliever right now. Her skin was itching, whenever she worked she became concious of how she sat, it never felt comfortable, every couple hundred words she suddenly needed to use the toilet, and she was craving for something to snack on.

She scratched her head and pondered what to do.

"M-maybe there are more bags in storage," she grumbled to herself.

She saved the document and turned the computer off, half feeling guilty for finding yet another excuse to slack off, and yet the other half didn't care, she needed something to relieve her. She fished into the pocket of her jumpsuit to check for her Overseer Access All Areas card. It was there.

While wandering through the halls, she glanced at her Pip-Boy. It was on the _Status_ screen, and the animation of Vault Boy walking on the spot was slightly different. He was still walking, but he was frowning very sadly rather than putting on his usual toothy grin. Off to the side of the screen, in green letters, was simply the word 'Stressed'.

"You're damn right," she huffed to the screen and dropped her arm.

She made it to the storeroom and pressed a button on the console near the door that kept it locked. It requested a password. Anzu didn't have time for that shit. She slipped her AAA card into a slot under the monitor and asterisks typed themselves into the password box.

The storeroom door opened to her presence and she stepped inside. The room was quite large, and looked like a small warehouse. Rows upon rows of metal shelves with boxes on them. There were some smaller rooms at the back that were kept refrigerated for certain foods.

She beelined for the shelving unit that held sweet snacks. The storeroom was pretty packed since it had only been a week. So the sweet snacks section stuck out since there was an obviously missing box. That was the box who's contents officially have not been emptied into her desk drawer.

She grabbed the box next to it and ripped the tape off the top. She opened the flaps and pulled out a fistful of plastic packets of sweet potatoes. She stuffed them into her pocket, closed the box and put it neatly back on the shelf.

As she made her way back to the entrance, something caught her attention. She had paid it no mind because of her hurry to get to the box she was looking for but now she was taking her time, spotting the contents of one of the aisles gave her a malicious thought.

It was a shelving unit filled with bottles of sake.

She eyed them, her hands in her pockets, the gears turning in her head. She shouldn't.

But she could.

It would be better than smoking.

But she had her sweet potatoes for stress relief.

But she could try alternate methods, sweet potatoes could only do so much, alcohol was a depressant, it would lower her heart rate, and as the Pip-Boy was _very_ clearly making aware, she was stressed. Stress caused increase heart rate. That wasn't good. Right? No, it wasn't good. She should do something about it.

But it wouldn't be right, it would be stealing...

She was the Overseer. Who's to know?

She blinked and realised she had absent mindedly approached the rack and was reaching out to take the bottle labelled ' _Sweet Sake!_ '

She cocked her head and peered at it, eyeing the screw on cap. And then she shrugged her shoulders.

"One sip couldn't hurt."

She unscrewed the cap and took a sip. It was...delicious. It was so sweet on her tongue. She took another sip, a slightly bigger one. She sloshed it around in her mouth and swallowed. She eyed the bottle for a moment.

"It'll just be one bottle..." she convinced herself.

She sat down and leant against the shelving unit. To justify her decision to herself, she decided to brainstorm how to write the report she was meant to be getting done. She spent the next 20 minutes thinking, drumming her fingers against the ground. Every time she thought of something to add to the report - a point to make, a clever sentence, a moment of brilliance as she remembered a particularly good example of resident behaviour - she would reward herself with a sip of sake.

Half the bottle was now gone.

"M-m-maybe I shud shtop," she said, and screwed the cap back on.

Then she took it off again and took another sip.

"O-o-one for the road," she said, screwing the cap back on for real this time. It took a couple of tries.

She stood up, not realising she was using the bottle as a crutch to hoist herself up, and then she realised just how dizzy she was.

"Phew!" she giggled as the mother of all head rushes made her head feel like it had just been flushed of all its contents.

She put the bottle back (on the wrong shelf) and brushed her knees. She looked at her Pip-Boy for the time. It was mid afternoon, she wasn't so bad she forgot how clocks worked. She noticed that the 'Stressed' trait was gone, and instead 'Moderate intoxication' had replaced it.

Not that Anzu could read it, she couldn't keep neither her head nor her arm still and she was seeing double.

"Time!" she thrust a finger out and thought she sounded cool exclaiming her thoughts, so she decided to keep doing it. "To get! Back! To work!"

Surprisingly, she was able to walk fairly convincingly. It took all of her concentration to keep one foot in front of the other without falling over, but she could do it. She thought that this must have been the most graciously she had ever walked in her life. St Gloriana, eat your heart out!

"Overseer, what are you doing?!"

Anzu looked up, she had been watching her feet to make sure they were pointing the right way. It was Momo, and who looked shocked more than anything to see Anzu in this state before her.

 _Crap_ , Anzu thought, _Gotta act natural_.

"Heeeeeey, Kaaa-waaaa-shhhhima!" she enunciated too perfectly.

Momo slapped her forehead.

"Whhhat are youuuu doing here?" Anzu trailed off on the last syllable as her lips drooped.

"Overseer, what on _Earth_ do you think you're doing in the storeroom drunk?!"

"Drrrrunk's a bit," Anzu held up a hand with her thumb and index almost touching, closing one eye and peering through the gap between the fingers with the other, "of a str- a strong word."

Momo's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide.

"Come on!" she screeched, stepping forward and putting a hand on Anzu's wobbling back. "We need to get you sobered up!"

"Aw, thanks Momo-chan!" she wrapped both of her arms around her friend. "You're the best!"

Momo's eye twitched.

* * *

" _Good afternoon everyone, this is the Broadcast Brothers, reporting to you live from Vault 462 point 5!_ " came the now familiar voice of Musen as Anglerfish team tuned into the radio frequency.

" _Say, Musen,_ " Ongaku expertly carried on the commentary, " _Why do you suppose they numbered our vault with a point 5?_ "

It had been a question the girls had asked themselves since the very first time the duo announced that they were broadcasting from a vault, though nobody could hazard a guess.

" _Y'know, Ongaku, I dunno!_ " they could just about picture him with a hand on his hip as he said that; Musen was really good at being expressive in what he said. " _Do you think that's common across the other vault numbers?_ "

" _I don't think so. I looked into the vaults a couple of weeks before the Nuclear Shower, and I couldn't find any others with decimals._ "

The Nuclear Shower had been the name that Musen and Ongaku had coined for the day the bombs dropped. It had somewhat started to spread throughout the rest of the vault as the official name to refer to that awful day.

" _What, did you find a list or something?_ "

" _As a matter of fact, Musen..._ " he paused momentarily and made an effort to ruffle some papers so it was picked up on the microphone. " _I have a list right here with me!_ "

The girls all gasped excitedly. They were all sitting at the diner seating area with Yukari's Pip-Boy in the middle of the table. They looked between each other.

" _Oh brilliant, Ongaku! Has it got the addresses on there, too?_ "

" _You betcha!_ "

The girls were pretty excited to listen in. There had been mutterings as to the well-being of some of their friends in other schools.

" _Well..._ " And then Ongaku began to read off the list. The girls listened in for the vault numbers of their fellow schools. Yukari had produced a notebook from what seemed like nowhere and was jotting down addresses and numbers.

" _...Vault 131 near Ooarai-_ "

"He said it!" Yukari squealed. "He said it!"

" _Oh Ooarai, ey?_ " Musen interrupted, very quizzically. " _Say, isn't that the place that school is from that won't the 63rd Tankery National Tournament?_ " Even from this side of the radio it was obvious he was waggling his eyebrows.

Ongaku sighed, " _Yes, Musen, yes it is._ "

" _Gee, I wonder how I knew that!_ "

" _Because I won't stop talking about Tankery?_ "

" _Because someone won't shut up about Tankery!_ "

" _So I have a hobby!_ " said Ongaku. " _Sue me!_ "

He continued to read off the list. A few more vaults were read off before Musen interrupted him again.

" _Vault 139a and 139b, in the northern Chiba prefecture-_ "

" _A and B?_ " Musen scoffed, " _What, was 139 point 5 not good enough?_ "

Ongaku chuckled, " _I suppose not,_ " he continued to read off the list. Some more time passed, getting into some of the larger numbers, before some more banter.

" _Vault 404-_ "

" _We couldn't find it,_ " and then Musen burst out into a fit of laughter, a complete guffawing fit. At the mercy of his audience he turned away from the microphone. Ongaku could only just be heard sighing very heavily.

" _Ladies and gentlemen,_ " Ongaku leaned into the microphone and whispered into it, " _He has been waiting to use that joke..._ "

Musen wasn't stopping anytime soon.

" _For three hours. This is what I have to live with._ "

The girls were bursting with giggles of their own. Not at the joke itself, that had been terrible, they were more laughing at the state they could hear Musen in and the "I'm really not amused" tone of Ongaku.

"I-I-I'm crying!" Saori slapped the table.

Musen finally managed to calm down.

" _Are you quite done?_ " Ongaku deadpanned.

" _Yeah,_ " Musen said followed by a sniff, he had been crying too, " _Sorry man, I couldn't pass that up._ "

" _I hope it was worth it. Anyway, that vault can be found in the northern Chiba prefecture._ "

" _And finally there's our vault, Vault 462.5._ "

" _That's quite a lot of vaults, but there are an awful lot missing. Where are the rest?_ "

" _America,_ " Ongaku responded matter-of-factly, " _These vaults are manufactured by Vault-Tec, an American based company. The first hundred and twenty or so were built in the States._ "

Ongaku cleared his throat, " _Oh, there's one last vault I forgot to mention. Vault 444 in Kumamoto._ "

" _Oh, that place,_ " Musen once again interrupted, though he sounded sad. From the sounds of it, he didn't have any jokes ready to fling. Miho's eyes grew larger and she listened closely when Musen spoke, because Kumamoto... that was where Kuromorimine were based.

" _Yeah..._ " Ongaku adopted the same sullen tone. He leaned in a little closer to the mic, and when he spoke, he sounded dead serious. " _Ladies and gentlemen, we have some news concerning Vault 444..._ "

Miho put a hand to her mouth. Saori put her hand on top of Miho's on the table.

" _We have reports claiming that the vault is completely underpopulated,_ " Musen started.

" _Apparently,_ " Ongaku continued, " _The Kuromorimine school ship was far out to sea at the time of the Shower..._ "

Miho gasped. Saori put her other hand on Miho's shoulder.

" _We don't know if the ship itself is safe or not,_ " Musen concluded, " _But they might have been far out enough to not be hit, though residual fallout is a problem should they make it back to shore._ "

" _N-no..._ " Miho squeaked, putting her head into her hands, trying to hide the tears.

Saori completed the embrace and slipped both of her arms around her. Yukari, sitting on the other side of Miho, etched closer and also hugged her. Hana didn't want to feel left out, and reached out and hugged both Saori and Miho.

Nobody said anything. They gave Miho a moment to regather her composure.

" _If we hear anything else, we'll be sure to let you know,_ " said Ongaku. " _For now, here's some music to try and cheer you up._ "

A moment passed before a very slow guitar riff started to play, repeating the samecouple of notes over and over.

 _Iiiiiit's aaaaall oooooveeeer, but the cryyyyyiiiiing-_

Yukari quickly reached out to turn the radio off.

"Thanks, Yukari," Miho grumbled.

"We're here for you, Miho," Saori said as cheerfully as we could.

"All the way, miss Nishizumi," Yukari chimed in.

Miho took a deep breath.

"I need to get out of this place," she said.

* * *

"This is why we _don't_ hit random you idiot!" Ongaku slammed his fist onto the table they used as their broadcasting desk, the radio station piled onto the corners as separate units that looked like VCR players.

"Shit shit shit, I'm sorry man!" Musen pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well don't just sit there, change the fucking song!"

Musen quickly twiddled some dials on the unit in front of him and some whirring could be heard as the records were changed in the player beside him.

Ongaku sighed and pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his jumpsuit pocket. Ongaku was a half black, half Japanese born

"Right," he said, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth, "Just keep the music playing for a bit longer than we usually would and we'll start the next broadcast." He huffed as he flicked the lighter on.

"What should we tell them about next?"

"Gee, I don't fucking know. How about we pull out the list of vaults that got shredded from all the ground burst nukes? That'll brighten up their day even more!"

Musen said nothing. He didn't want to stoke the fire. He watched Ongaku as he exhaled some smoke with a sigh of relief.

"Got a spare?" Musen asked.

Ongaku hesitated for only a moment. He was going to say no but he knew that denying a smoker of a much needed cigarette was a terrible thing to do. He flicked him a spare from his pack.

Musen lit it with his own lighter.

"Just don't do something like that again, Musen."

"I won't."

"I'm serious. It's not just the audience I'm worried about."

Musen pursed his brow quizzically as he sucked on the cigarette. "What are you worried about then?" he asked, smoke pouring from his mouth.

"Us," Ongaku answered, "Remember, we need to try our best to not get on each other's nerves. It's just the two of us down here after all. Let's try not to kill each other."

* * *

Anzu was back in the Overseer's office typing up her report, this time with Yuzu standing behind her with her arms crossed. After finding Anzu drunk in the storeroom, Momo made her drink a litre of water and two slices of buttered bread, then she took a nap on the sofa in the Overseer's office. It had been a nice nap, there were already blankets and pillows there from when Yuzu had spent many a night there. Anzu was still slightly tipsy, she could feel the rush of alcohol in her head, though she could think perfectly straight and rationally.

Yuzu wasn't exactly happy that she needed to cut her supposed "much deserved" day off so soon to babysit Anzu, though she admitted to herself that she had been slightly bored.

"How's that?" Anzu asked the fifth time that evening after typing out a paragraph.

Yuzu leaned in to skim read it.

"Elaborate with a couple hundred more words and you'll be done," she said.

Anzu gave a long winded huff. Yuzu ignored it and straightened herself.

It was just then that Momo came in through the door. She had her hand on somebody's shoulder, half pushing them into the room. From the wincing look on his face, her grip seemed tight.

 _Oh thank God_ , Anzu thought, _something interesting._

"What do we have here?" she asked, crossing her arms and putting on her best smirk.

"Another one, Overseer," Momo answered, releasing her grip from the man's shoulder.

If it weren't for the overgrown stubble, they would've thought the man had been a teenager. He was quite short for somebody his age, his shoulders only just reached higher than Momo's. Other than the stubble, he was complete mundane, right down to the Vault 131 jumpsuit, a generic face amongst the crowd.

"Ah, so what were they caught doing this time?" Anzu asked, upgrading her presence by lacing her fingers together and putting on a devilish grin.

The man crossed his arms and looked to the side, pursing his lip to show he was keeping silent.

"I have strong suspicions that he was actively partaking in a rebel meeting just 10 minutes ago," Momo answered concisely.

"And that's all they are," the man gruffed, "suspicions. Not a shred of evidence."

"Yuzu," Momo began and a grin of her own grew on her face, "Could you check surveillance camera 061-B..."

The man's head quickly turned to look at Momo with widening eyes.

"...about 15 minutes ago for the desired evidence of a suspicious looking gathering."

Anzu rolled her Overseer chair out the way to let Yuzu type away on the computer. The man scoffed.

""Suspicious looking"? That's what you're going to base your argument on?"

Momo ignored him. Silence fell on the room, with the clicking of the keys on the computer the only thing to be heard. Yuzu started to play a recording of the captured footage.

The camera captured a view of a right-angle turning in a hallway. It was a hallway that was fairly off to the side of the vault layout, and it didn't see much foot traffic. So it certainly was peculiar to see five men standing in a circle. The light gestures they each made with their hands suggested that they were chatting.

"Ooh!" Anzu cooed, leaning in to get a look, "Is that Hangyaku?"

"I do believe that is, Overseer" Yuzu confirmed, also noticing the familiar figure on the feed.

Anzu tutted patronisingly in the man's direction. "You rebels really are such a thorn in my side," she said.

"We do not actively fight against the system, we are not rebels," the man's arms uncrossed and dropped to his side, with a frustrated look, gazing straight at Anzu.

"You actively _speak_ against us, trying to adopt others to your views," Anzu laced her fingers together again and lightly spun the chair from side to side, "And while we cannot prove it, we know that it is your organisation that has been stealing supplies from the storeroom."

That was three quarters of a lie. Anzu would only admit to herself that from the sweet potatoes and now the sake, she probably had stolen more in terms of actual quantity. And they weren't 100% sure that this mini rebel faction were stealing supplies, but she wanted to gauge his reaction, she wanted to keep showing face.

But he was as stoic as a brick.

Anzu peered over to the footage to see Momo standing on one end of the hall pointing. She dashed toward the group and they scattered, but Momo just grabbed hold onto one before he got away.

"So what was your harmless chat all about?" Anzu asked innocently, turning her attention back to the man. "Interesting place for a friendly get-together."

"We just fancied some peace and quiet."

Anzu looked him over carefully, watching out for a tick, a twitch, a nervous habit, anything to suggest he might be lying, but he was keeping his composure. He had his arms crossed and was eyeing her, completely still.

He was _too_ composed. He was completely still. He was consciously trying to look natural and innocent.

"Alright," Anzu sighed, and she waved her had at him, "You're free to go."

He didn't hesitate. He turned on his heels and strode out the door.

"Overseer, what are we going to do about them?" Momo asked as she sauntered over to the coffee machine.

"Until they start acting against us, they're not worth the time," Anzu said. "All they're doing is bitching about us behind our backs and occasionally stealing a Tankfastic from the stores."

Momo turned the machine on.

"Isn't it best to nip it in the bud before it grows, though?" Yuzu questioned.

"Not until we have some proof that they're planning anything malicious," Anzu asked, "If we go around arresting residents without proof, we'll just look like the very thing they claim us to be."

"And that is?" Yuzu asked.

"Incompetent," Anzu answered sternly, "They think that just because we're children, we can't run the place properly."

Yuzu sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I just hope this doesn't go too far," she said.

The coffee machine started to beep to show it was done.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I've been a little vague with the vault numbers/locations, and I've deliberately done that because I don't want to allocate all vaults now and have it come back to bite me later. As I add and make concrete sure what I want to do with vaults in terms of numbers, experiments and locations I will add them to that broadcast by the brothers.**

 **But wait, does that mean that the vaults that are already there are ones that I _do_ know what I want to do with? Maybe so...**

 **And just in case there's still any confusion still, the Broadcast Brothers are just meant to be this Fallout interpretation's stand in for the radio station. Like Three Dog, Mr. New Vegas and Diamond City Radio before them, the Broadcast Brothers are GuP's post-nuclear apocalypse radio hosts!**

 **(11 April 2017) Accidentally left in placeholder names, fixed now**


	8. Easy Living

**Chapter 8: Easy Living**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This one's a bit of a slice-of-life chapter similar to chapter 1. I like slice-of-life chapters because I think they make the characters seem more human, so I'll be falling back on them ocasionally. That isn't to say that nothing interesting happens in this chapter, quite the opposite in fact!**

 **The card game that Rabbit Team are playing, Tank Duel, is just a re-skin of the game Caravan from Fallout: New Vegas. I** _ **love**_ **that card game, it's really cool, but I seem to be one of only a dozen people that knows how to play it. :P**

* * *

 _1 week later..._

Miho lay down in her bed, tracing her eyes over the curves of the springs of the bunk above her. Her mind was racing, but simultaneously was completely still. It had been a week since the broadcast from the Brothers that revealed the Kuromorimine ship hadn't made port when the Nuclear Shower had hit. She had become so distracted since then, she couldn't stop thinking about her sister, about how she wanted to go and find her. But that was _all_ she could think about.

She rolled onto her side to face the wall. She was sick of looking at the springs. Now she could get distracted by the scratch marks on the metal walls instead.

The doors to the room hissed open. She didn't react. Maybe whoever came in would think she was asleep and leave her alone.

"Miss Nishizumi?"

No such luck.

Miho just shriveled up into a tighter fetal position in response.

"Hey, Miho!"

The second voice sounded like a rake scraping out the insides of a throat.

Miho sat up and turned to face the source. It was Yukari and... Mako.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Miho asked curiously.

Mako grinned. Carefully. She had found out that with her lack of lips, grinning with a completely nude set of teeth could really freak out anyone watching.

"Well, you weren't going to come and visit me, so I decided to come to you!"

Miho felt a tinge of guilt stab her. That was true, she had only visited Mako twice since she left the hospital. Since hearing about Kuromorimine, she had resorted to being a bit of a recluse, and forgot to visit Mako.

"Besides," Mako continued, "You look like you're in need of a friendly visit more than me at this stage."

Miho glanced at Yukari, who was just standing by idly, arms crossed and a slight smile on her face. When she caught Miho giving her a glance, she punched a fist into her palm.

"The Overseer's locked off one of the baths to commoners, and is giving special access to only those chosen!" she explained suddenly, like she had been holding it in. "It's so miss Rezei and miss Sodoko can relax for the day and invite anyone they want to hang out with them!"

Miho drifted her gaze over to Mako again.

"And you want me to come with you?" she almost sounded unsure, though she didn't know why. Of course her best friends would want her to come and relax with them, but with her rather bleak mood right now, she didn't want to drag them down with her.

"It'll do you just as much good as it would me," Mako repeated.

Miho sighed and looked down at the crinkles in her bed cover. When _was_ the last time she took a bath with her friends? That relaxing time frame after a Tankery match was always something to look forward to.

"Alright," she said bleakly, "I'll come."

"That's the spirit, miss Nishizumi!" Yukari exclaimed.

Miho gave a small smile, realising, not for the first time, that she was lucky to have such wonderful friends.

* * *

Vault 131 had two bathhouses, one on either end of the dormitory block. Just as Yukari said, Anzu had completely sanctioned one off just for the private use of Sodoko, Mako and anyone they invited.

Sodoko, Gomoyo and Pazomi were already in the bath, so it was just Anglerfish team approaching the bath house. But, despite being amongst just her closest friends, Mako couldn't bring herself to change.

"Err... guys...?" she tentatively started, "C-could I perhaps go in first?"

It only took the girls a moment to guess why.

Saori cracked a smile. "Go right in, Mako," she said sweetly.

Mako nodded and stepped through the doors into the changing room, leaving the rest of Anglerfish team in the halls of the vault. There was only a small moment of silence before Saori spoke up, "So, Miho, how have you been feeling?"

Miho hadn't said a word since leaving her dorm with Mako and Yukari. Even when they went to meet Hana and Saori, when they said hi to her all she could muster was a wave. It was like she was turning into Saki.

"Awful," Miho responded truthfully.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Saori asked, almost pleading. It hadn't been the first time she had asked that.

Miho shook her head. "No. No Saori, there isn't. I don't think there's anything anyone can do." She took a breath, and just as Saori had started to say something, she asked the question that had been on her mind for a while, "How do you do it, Takebe?"

Saori blinked, "Do what?"

Miho wished she hadn't asked, but there was no turning back now. She straightened up and touched her wrist with her other hand, wanting to curl up and disappear.

"Your parents. They were out of town when the... shower happened, weren't they?" her voice was starting to crack, she felt awful for asking this, for reminding Saori of a potentially traumatic memory. "You don't know where they are, and yet... you're so calm about it. How... how do you do it?"

Saori just kept staring blankly as she thought of what to say. Hana and Yukari kept their mouths shut. Saori breathed in a deep breath through her nose.

"It's _because_ I have no way of knowing that I'm so calm about it," she answered. "If I don't know, then why assume the worst? It's better for me to think the best even if I'm none the wiser. Ignorance is bliss."

She turned her head to look at Hana and Yukari with a grin, "Darjeeling taught me that one."

"I... I wish I could feel the same way..." Miho sighed.

"It is difficult, once you've convinced yourself of something to stop believing it," Saori continued. "All I can really say is, you convinced yourself that the worst has happened to your sister. And yet, you can just as easily convince yourself of the opposite."

She was keeping to herself that despite thinking that way, a few night had gone by where she cried herself to sleep.

Miho sighed again. "I just wish I could go and find her."

"Miho, it's way too dangerous," Saori pouted, and she put on a more authoritative, motherly tone. "Kumamoto is over 500 miles away and on an island. And if the travelling doesn't kill you, the fallout will."

"Yeah, it's... it's silly." Miho just hung her head and looked down at the floor.

And then she felt herself being embraced, and got a faceful of ginger hair. She hugged back.

* * *

"Jack removes your 10." Karina said, pulling a Jack from her fan of five cards and placing it on top of the 10 in Aya's central pile.

"You son of a bitch!" Aya whined, picking up the 10 and the King that was attached to it.

"Aya! Mind your language!" Azusa called over from the table in the corner of the room.

"Whatever," Aya huffed in response. "How are you two doing in your game?"

"Azusa's winning," Yuuki pouted, taking a sip from her can of orange Tankfastic.

Aya laughed. "Of course she is! It makes sense our glorious commander would win at Tank Duel!"

Azusa liked to think she wasn't blushing at that moment.

Aya turned to look at Ayumi and Saki on one of the lower bunks. "How about you two?"

"I'm winn-" Ayumi started before watching in horror as Saki played a Joker on her only red Ace, which completely eliminated all of Ayumi's red aces... of which she had a huge abundance of. "Sc-scratch that... I'm losing horribly."

Aya laughed again. "Saki, you're really good at this!"

Saki didn't say anything.

The girls continued to play Tank Duel. Organising a tournament between the six of them was all they could think to do to entertain themselves for the day. It was proving to be good fun, and halfway through the semi-finals, Aya mentioned they should try getting the whole Tankery team involved.

In the end, it came down to Azusa and Saki. Ayumi had beaten Aya for 3rd place, and now the girls were gathered around their commander and loader to watch them play cards.

To start with, it looked like Azusa was going to secure an early win, but Saki was secretly very crafty, and often waited halfway through to foil plans. She was the only one who utilised the Jokers with any degree of effectiveness.

Saki produced a Joker and played it on one of her 5s, which took away one of her own 5s in another pile but also eliminated the four 5s that Azusa had spread across two piles.

"Oooooh!" the spectators baited in unison.

"This is getting interesting!" Aya said, placing her hands on Saki's shoulders and rubbing them, "C'mon Saki, you can beat her!"

The game went back and forth for a bit. After Saki had used the Joker, turns were taking longer as each side thought hard about what they should do, trying to think a couple of turns ahead.

In the end, the game came to a halt when Azusa played a King on one of Saki's piles.

"That brings that Tank's power up to 21, it's now valid," she said.

"But why would you do that?!" Karina squawked.

"Because my other two tanks are already valid," Azusa explained matter-of-factly, "That makes three valid tanks. Game over."

The spectators stood there and stared at the mess of cards on the table, still trying to process the weird move that Azusa just made that ended the game. The silence was broken by a very light giggle from Saki.

"Good job," she squeaked and set down her cards.

"Damnit!" Aya huffed. "That means we all have to buy Azusa a Nuka-Cola!"

Azusa laughed bashfully. "Don't worry, guys," she said, "I'll share!"

* * *

Over in the gym, Duck Team had monopolised the mats and were playing a modified version of volleyball. The "gym" was just a training room, and with a low ceiling it certainly wasn't a great environment for a volleyball game. But Duck Team didn't care.

Being the only ones in the gym, they shoved all of the training equipment to the corners of the room, spread out a net that cut the room in half and played one of two alternate versions of volleyball that they had made up.

They either played with the additional rule that the ceiling was fair game and could be used to bounce some pretty brutal shots, or they spread mats out on the floor and ruled it that you could only walk on your knees. Hilarity was bound to ensue with the latter.

Noriko dived to the side to save a spike from Shinobu, but got the wind completely knocked out of her with a loud grunt. The ball was quick to rub salt into the wound and bounced off her head.

Shinobu and Taeko on the other side of the net started laughing at the sight. Akebi gasped and rushed to help her commander up.

"Are you OK, Isobe?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Sasaki..." Noriko responded, rubbing her stomach. Any other time, she'd be laughing along with them, but that was a particularly painful landing. And she was starting to get sick of the knee-walking rule, her height was proving to be a huge handicap for her.

"Maybe we should stop now," Akebi suggested, "We've been playing for a while."

"Yeah, good idea," Noriko acknowledged.

* * *

Saemonza took aim... breathed in... pulled the string back... and released!

The arrow flew straight and true, piercing straight through the can and carried it further down the hall and struck the far back wall, joining the rest of the arrows already there.

"You should make the target's harder," Erwin said, admiring the neat line of arrows on the wall, each one pierced through an empty can of Tankfastic.

"It's been a while, I want to make sure I'm not sloppy on the basics," Saemonza said, nocking another arrow into the string of her bow.

" _Sloppy_?" Erwin laughed, "I've met men who aren't as straight as that queue you've pinned into the wall!"

Saemonza managed a small grin.

" _Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Broadcast Brothers, reporting live from underground!_ "

The two turned to see Caeser leaning against the wall fiddling with her Pip-Boy. She was just pulling her earphones out of her ears, the other end of the jack cable dangling between her legs after having pulled it out of the Pip-Boy.

"Time for the next broadcast?" Oryou asked, who was sitting down next to Caesar, back against the wall while reading a book.

"Yep!" Caesar confirmed.

" _Today, lovely viewers, we've decided to enlighten you a little as to what is happening on the surface,_ " Ongaku said, his deep voice purring beautifully. " _Though I will give you forewarning, it's not the happiest of news. Musen, have you ever heard of nuclear winter?_ "

" _No, I haven't!_ "

" _Well, nuclear winter is the natural phenomenon whereby the collective abundance of ash and smoke from several firestorms, likely to be caused by several nuclear detonations, rise into the sky and form one huge, thick cloud,_ " Ongaku paused for dramatic effect. " _Big enough to blot out the sun._ "

Erwin whistled, almost perfectly in time with Musen on the other end.

" _That sounds like it could cause some damage,_ " Musen pondered.

" _It can when it lasts as long as a real winter. It stops the surface from being able to get its heat and sunlight, which is just as bad for plant life as it would be for you or me._ "

" _So that's what's going on on the surface right now?_ " Musen asked.

" _I'm afraid so,_ " and then Ongaku spoke in a mocking nasally voice, " _We are experiencing some severe overcast with a high chance of winter, but low risk of nuclear showers._ "

That got a little giggle from the girls, Musen also.

" _How long will the winter last?_ " Musen asked.

" _A while, a few months at least._ "

" _What happens if you were to go to the surface while it was still going on?_ "

Ongaku paused for a moment. " _Pack a jumper. And lots of RadAway._ "

" _Well, there we have it folks,_ " Musen concluded, " _All the more reason to appreciate the life you have with Vault-Tec!_ "

" _And now it's time for our music broadcast. We hope you enjoy._ "

Caesar set her arm down as the music started.

"Do those two ever have any good news?" Erwin asked.

"What good news is there to tell in these times?" Saemonza asked as she walked back to her spot to shoot some more.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," Caesar said smugly with a smile, "But I've had _fantastic_ news."

"We get it!" Saemonza huffed as she looked down the shaft of her next arrow. "Your girlfriend's safe in her vault."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Caesar shot back, knowing full well they were referring to Carpaccio, though there wasn't much effort put into the retort.

"She _is_ your girlfriend, Caesar," Oryo said bleakly, not looking up from her book, even as she turned a page.

Caesar paused for a moment, her arms crossed, back still leaning against the wall.

"OK, yeah, she's my girlfriend," Caesar admitted with a shrug.

"So how are Carpaccio and Taka-chan getting on?" Erwin asked.

Caser ignored Erwin's use of her pet name. "Quite well," Caesar said confidently, flashing a sideways grin. She closed her eyes. "So well, in fact, that I plan to go and find her."

Saemonza missed her shot.

She turned around sharply to look at her friend, her hair flailing around. Oryo closed her book with a _thump_ and looked up at her friend, and Erwin was staring daggers at Caesar.

"You can't be serious?" she demanded.

Caesar kept her stance and her confident sideways smile, her eyes glued shut. "I'm serious, I plan to find her."

"When?" the other three demanded.

"Who knows," Caesar finally opened her eyes and shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe in the year we get let out? Maybe sooner."

"You're not doing something as foolish as leaving the vault before it is time," Oryo stated. It wasn't a question.

"Not to sound like a bitch, but I wouldn't expect you guys to understand," Caesar said. Her smile melted away and her expression became serious. she glanced between each of her friends in turn. "I'm not leaving her fate to the wind."

Oryo sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"And hey," Caesar continued, "Anzio's vault is in Utsunomiya. That's just under 50 miles away. You can walk that in a day."

Erwin chuckled and shook head head gently with a crooked smile. "If this is what love compels you to do, Caesar, then I think it's a mercy for us that we don't understand."

"If you do go..." Oryo started. Everyone looked at her. "Make sure you pack a jumper."

The four girls laughed.

* * *

 _1 week later..._

"I can't believe it!" Yukari squealed excitedly. "The Overseer wants to see me for "something important"!"

"Yes, well, don't dawdle, keep moving," Momo sighed, leading the way to the Overseer office.

"Do you know what it's about, miss Kawashima?"

Momo sighed, though not because she was fed up with the question, but rather because she knew what Anzu was about to do. "Yes, yes I do."

"Ooooh!" Yukari squealed some more. "But what could the Overseer possible want me for?"

"You'll find out when we get there!" Momo aid through gritted teeth.

Finally, they arrived at the Overseer's office. The door hissed open and on the other end of the room they saw Anzu, sitting at her desk and taking a sip from a hip flask.

"Ah! Kawashima, you found her!" Anzu beamed, screwing the cap back on the flask hurriedly before placing it back into an open drawer a her desk and slamming it shut. She rested her elbows on the desk, laced her fingers together and rest her chin on her fingers and gave a sweet smile.

Momo gave a very disapproving look, but regardless of whether or not Anzu noticed it or chose to ignore it, she couldn't talk about the Overseer's worrying habits in front of a resident.

"So, Overseer," Yukari began, bouncing on her heels, "What did you need me for?"

Anzu chuckled. "Miss Akiyama, let's not be too hasty," she said, "Tell me, how are you? We haven't had a chance to talk since coming into the vault."

"Oh, I'm fine, Overseer!"

Before she could say anything else, Anzu interjected. "Please, just call me Anzu."

"Err... OK..." Yukari wasn't exactly comfortable using first names for those she respected, but if her friend was insisting... "But anyway. I'm fine miss Anzu! I'm settling into life here in Vault 131 very well!"

"Good!" Anzu cooed, "I'm glad to hear it! Enlighten me a bit, would you Yukari? What do you think of the Council in the position of power? I want your honest opinion."

Yukari was caught off guard by the question. Not because she didn't have an answer, but because she hadn't really been expecting it. "I think the Council is wonderful! They've done such good things for the vault!"

Anzu smiled. She stood up out of her seat and started to make her way around the desk. Yukari noticed that she must have her chair set to quite high, as she seemed to shrink in height when she stepped down from it.

"Yukari, I have an offer for you," she said as she approached her.

"Ooh, really?" Yukari's voice was oozing with excitement.

"Yes. You see... not everyone in the vault thinks the same as you about the Council. In fact, some have directly spoken out against it."

She watched as Yukari's face sank.

"I'm worried that they might do something drastic," Anzu continued, crossing her arms, "And if they do, I want to know I have people I can rely on."

"You can rely on me miss Anzu!"

Anzu smiled. "Good, that's what I wanted to hear. Which is why, Yukari, I would like to make you an informant."

She locked her eyes with Yukari's, keeping her cocky smile and her crossed arms to come across as serious as she could.

Yukari froze, processing what Anzu had just asked.

"An informant?!" she finally beamed.

Anzu nodded.

"Oh that's _awesome_! Yes, miss Anzu, yes yes yes I will be your informant!"

"Good, good!' Anzu cooed, descending into a whisper, leaning in closer, to which Yukari copied. "But you need to keep quiet about it OK?" If she hadn't been so excited, Yukari would've noticed that she could smell alcohol on Anzu's breath.

"Yes, miss Anzu!" Yukari whispered back.

"I'll give you all the details and your orders later, but first, there's just one more thing..." Anzu wrapped an arm over Yukari's shoulder and led her to her desk.

In response, Momo closed the shutters to the windows that looked out into the hall.

"If the residents _do_ ever do anything drastic, Yukari, I need you to help me pacify them."

"And how do I do that?"

Anzu reached under the desk, feeling along the corner where the ceiling turned down to form the wall of the drawer unit. She found what she was looking for. She pressed it.

"With this..."

Some clunking could be heard behind them, along with slight scraping. The girls turned to look at the wall behind them, and watched as a panel in the wall extruded slightly and then pushed itself to one side.

This made an opening in the wall, a door that led into an oversized cupboard. There was only one thing inside the cupboard.

It was a suit. A suit of armour.

* * *

Momonga was splayed out on her bunk, head hanging off the side. She was bored.

Nekota was sitting on her bed underneath Momonga's bunk, back leaning against the wall with her laptop open. The sounds of ambience, occasional game menu clicking and ambience could be heard radiating from it, which had been just white noise to Momonga's ears until she'd noticed what Nekota was doing.

"Watcha playin'?" Momonga asked the ceiling.

"Metro 2033," Nekota responded.

"Really?" Momonga asked. "I would've thought that'd be the last thing you'd want to play while down here."

Nekota chuckled. "You'd think, but it's _because_ we're in the vault I decided to play it. When I noticed what a similar situation we're in, I couldn't help but get an itch for it."

Momonga then heard a sort of clunk. She knew that sound. It was the sound of the Devil.

"Are you playing on a _trackpad_?!" she demanded, turning over to look under the bed at her friend.

"My mouse broke on the way down here. Someone tripped me and I landed pretty bad on top of my bag."

"You can borrow my mouse, y'know! Why would you subject yourself to such a horrible punishment?!"

Nekota smiled, not taking her eyes off the screen. Momonga could see the flashes of muzzle fire reflecting off her glasses in time with the sounds of gunfire.

"I like a challenge," Nekota answered.

A moment passed by.

"Argh, shit."

"Dead?" Momonga asked.

"Yeah. Got jumped by someone in a tunnel."

* * *

"Oh shit," Hoshino cursed shortly after a loud _clunk_ echoed throughout Leopon team's room.

Nakajima sighed from atop her bunk, lying front down and reading a school book. She lowered her book to look down at Hoshino sat at the diner seating area, with her jumpsuit half off with the sleeves tied around her waist, and a sports bra keeping her upper torso modest.

"What have you done?" Nakajima huffed.

Hoshino was gripping a screwdriver in her right hand and her Pip-Boy was on the table in front of her with its back cover off.

"I want to say nothing..." Hoshino responded.

"Yeah, that noise certainly wasn't "nothing"," Nakajima laughed.

"Oh look at me!" from underneath Nakajima's bunk, Tsuchiya was squawking in a mock voice, "My name's Hoshino, and I'm going to crack open my Pip-Boy and jam a screwdriver into it to see how it works. _Nothing_ could _possibly_ go wrong!" she finished with a laugh.

"That noise was just an investment," Hoshino said as she replaced the screwdriver in her hand with a pair of tweezers.

"Investment for _what_?" Tsuchiya laughed, "How can a noise even be an investment?!"

"Yeah, what are you even doing?" Nakajima watched Hoshino, genuinely fascinated by what she had hoped to happen when she decided to screw something off inside the Pip-Boy.

"Research!" Hoshino responded sharply.

 _Twang_

"STOP TOUCHING IT!" Tsuchiya half shouted, half laughed.

"No no, it's alright!" Hoshino assured, pulling a length of wire out of the Pip-Boy and stuffing it back inside. "I think I've figured it out now."

"Figured _what_ out?!" Nakajima pleaded.

 _Pop_

 _Fizzle_

Sparks flew from inside the Pip-Boy.

Tsuchiya was slapping the mattress from uncontrollable laughter; Nakajima had her head in her hand from her own laughing; and on the other bunk, Suzuki, who'd just been spectating, was rubbing her eyes with her sleeve from crying.

Even Hoshino was trying to stifle her laughing, her hands still wrist deep inside the Pip-Boy.

"G-guys..." she stuttered, the laughter trying to break free from her throat, "I-I think I broke my Pip-Boy."

Instead of sympathy, all she got was uncontrollable laughter in response.

* * *

Hangyaku was just a commoner. He had finely cut black hair and a perfectly clean shaven face with nice complexion. The most noticeable feature was the scar that ran the length of his neck when he fell out of a tree when he was young. Before the Shower, he was a businessman. He wore a suit, he lived in a nice house, he abided by the laws and he was used to experienced, middle aged men managing his position.

Hangyaku was just a commoner. Or was he? Now, he was a vault resident. He wore a tasteless jumpsuit every day and his community was governed by a council of three schoolgirls. This was simply unacceptable. A joke.

No, Hangyaku wasn't just a commoner. He was the leader of the rebels of Vault 131. In just three weeks he'd managed to recruit a sizeable community to his cause. But something was bothering him.

He was in one of the many public lounges dotted throughout the vault. There was a bar with a mini-fridge of drinks of both the alcoholic and soft persuasion. Nothing fancy but it was nice to know where one could acquire a drink should they need it. There were three diner cubicles arranged in a row on the opposite wall to the bar, with a jukebox shoved into a corner softly playing some music. The lounge was tiny, as were all of the lounges in the vault, there was only just enough room between the bar stools and the cubicle behind it for wheelchairs to pass through. But the lounges were intended to be a place one could relax for half an hour, not to spend an entire afternoon.

This lounge was one of Hangyaku's favourites, as the barman was part of his force. It was also a fairly quiet lounge in comparison to others, right now it was just the two of them. Hangyaku sat in a cubicle and drummed his fingers on the table while he sipped at some red wine.

"Something on your mind, boss?" the barman asked.

Hangyaku cleared his throat, and when he spoke, he spoke with an aura of confidence, like he had an answer prepared all along, "As a matter of fact, there is. I'm concerned about the size of our group."

"Concerned? What's there to be concerned about? There's more now than ever! Even those who don't follow you know who you are-"

Hangyaku snapped his fingers into a pointed finger at the barman. The latter shut up straight away while Hangyaku took another sip of his wine.

"And that's exactly what concerns me," he said after setting the glass down, he curled his finger in and rested it on his chin. "Tell me, if you want to destroy an entire forest, what's the best method of doing so?"

"Umm... well... I suppose you burn it?"

Hangyaku snapped his fingers again. "No, you do not. That may seem like the most efficient way, however the fire will attract the attention of those you don't want it to. And then they come and put the fire out."

He took another sip. "So what do you do instead? You chop the trees down yourself, one by one. They won't notice the forest thinning if it's being depleted so slowly, and by the time they do, it's too late, you've done the damage."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Hangyaku smirked. He crossed his legs, dipped his finger in his wine and ran it around the rim of the glass, creating a melodic ringing sound that he kept expertly under control, rising and lowering its pitch in time with him as he spoke.

"My point is, we are recruiting and growing too fast. The Council is noticing us. Everyone knows our name, as you say. This is not good."

"So... what do we do?"

Hangyaku circled his finger some more as he thought. It sounded so beautiful. So peaceful.

"We will lay low for a while," he answered. "I will get some of my men to steal from the storeroom and get them deliberately caught," he stopped circling his finger and cupped the glass.

"After that, we will reduce all activity to minimal, make Kadotani think she has scared us into our holes for good."

He grinned a grin worthy of a shark.

"And then we strike!" the glass smashed in his hand as he squeezed it, shards flying all over the table, the red wine soaking his hand.

The crimson liquid dribbled down his wrist, oozed from in between his fingers as he gripped his hand into a fist, and dripped onto the table below.


	9. Ain't That a Kick in the Head?

**Chapter 9: Ain't That a Kick in the Head?**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well well, this certainly took a while, didn't it? Some things cropped up, the academic year was ending, had some writer's block, yada yada, excuses.**

 **With regards to the block, I knew what I wanted to happen, just not how to write it, and was worried it might turn out a little boring, so I hope I've written it to my usual standard.**

 **I was also a little naughty and got distracted writing the first draft for an Ace Attorney oneshot.**

* * *

 _A few days later..._

 _Tell me quick!_

 _Oh ain't that a kick?_

 _Tell me quick, ain't that a kick, iiiiiiiin the heeeeeeeeeaaad!_

Just as the instruments hit their final notes coming from the radio, Miho expertly yet gently lowered Yukari into a dip, both breathing heavily. They were then bombarded with applauds.

"That was wonderful!" Saori commended, clapping the fastest.

Miho just held Yukari in her arms, starring into her eyes, her chest rising and falling from her breathing, a single bead of sweat trickling down the side of her head. Yukari was quite happy to just be held in Miho's arms, her own breath pretty laboured. Her heart was beating wildly, though not just because she had been moving around so much...

"You two can move now!" Anzu hollered, and Miho came crashing back down to Earth. She realised what she was doing and dropped Yukari, who landed on the floor with a _clang_ against the metal floor.

"Oh, Yukari!" Miho squealed. "I'm so sorry!" Her face flushed a deep red as the entire Tankery team watched her drop her friend.

She quickly offered her hand. Yukari took it with a chuckle. "It's alright, miss Nishizumi, it was my fault."

"Wow, Miho, where did you learn to dance like that?" Hana asked.

"Umm... err..." Miho stuttered, her face keeping her blush. "My sister taught me."

"That was _amazing_!" Karina exclaimed, flinging her arms in the air for emphasis. She and the other Rabbits were sitting on one of the mess hall's cafe tables. The rest of the Tankery team were scattered, some sitting, others standing. A space had been cleared of tables and benches in the middle of the mess hall to give Yukari and Miho room to dance.

"You think so?" Miho asked shyly.

"Better than most of us could do I'm sure, Commander," Erwin nodded.

"Speak for yourself!" Aya hollered from across the room. "I'll have you know I'm pretty graceful at traditional dance."

"You?!" Karina screeched from beside her, "Graceful?! As if!"

Miho smiled. She bowed and apologised to Yukari once more before bashfully slipping away and taking a seat next to Anzu, who was munching on a sweet potato. Just the one.

"This was a good idea, Overseer," said Miho, "Getting the crew together for a night out."

"Yeah, but it's one in the morning now!" Yuzu said worriedly, looking at her Pip-Boy.

"I hear you, Yuzu," Anzu said with a mouthful. She swallowed and addressed the entire room, "Time for bed now kiddies, chop chop, school tomorrow!"

She got many groans of complaint in response, but they did start dispersing and heading back to their rooms.

"Well, goodnight, Overseer," Miho said with a warm smile as she followed the crowd.

"Take care, Miho," Anzu smiled back with a wave, and then she spotted someone she needed to speak to... "Oh, Yukari!" she called.

Yukari turned and saw the Overseer waving for her. "Coming!" she responded.

"What does the Overseer want _you_ for?" Saori asked.

"Umm... stuff," Yukari answered before running off.

"That's the best she could do?" Saori shrugged and continued her way back to the dorm with Hana and Miho, the latter of which gave the retreating Yukari a puzzled look.

Yukari approached Anzu, who was still sat on on the bench, leant back with her elbows resting on the table behind her. She had her legs crossed and was tapping her foot and humming along to the song she was replaying in her head. Yuzu and Momo stayed by her side.

Once the last person left the room, Anzu's humming abruptly stopped, though she kept tapping her foot. "So Yukari, you found anything out yet?"

Yukari stood up straight, bringing her legs together and giving a salute. "Information has been difficult to come by, miss Anzu, the targets seem to be immediately suspicious of me."

"Probably because they know you're part of the Tankery club so they know you're friends with me," Anzu thought aloud, staring off into a random corner of the room as she wondered. The large mess hall designed to support hundreds of people at once seemed so huge with just the four of them.

Anzu then directed her gaze at Yukari, "So what have the targets been doing?"

"As a matter of fact, miss Anzu... not much."

Anzu frowned, "That's strange," She looked up at Momo. "Didn't you say those residents were particularly active in the rebel faction?"

"That's what I thought, Overseer," Momo replied, "Whenever there's an incident or disturbance of the peace that seems to come from the rebels, those residents' names are the ones that seem to appear a lot."

"And yet they're doing nothing now?" Anzu looked back at Yukari, "You sure about that?"

"Well, I can only keep a pair of eyes on the targets for so long, miss Overseer," Yukari defended, "But from what I've witnessed, they're just living their daily lives."

"Maybe they've retired?" Yuzu suggested.

"That's possible," Anzu nodded, "They might have just changed lieutenants to keep us chasing geese."

"I think the term is "wild goose chase", Overseer," Yuzu chuckled.

Anzu waved off her remark. She looked at Yukari again. "Thanks Yukari, you've been a big help."

"I have?" Yukari asked. "But... I couldn't get any useful information for you!"

"You got plenty," Momo said, "Miss Akiyama, I don't think you quite understand the nature of those targets. Up until a few days ago, not a day was going by when I didn't end up with at least one report on my desk detailing some fight or illegal propaganda parade. And do you know who always seemed to be involved?"

"The... targets?"

"Yes, those targets. They clearly have a foothold in the rebels' activity, or they at least oversee it."

"But what about Hangyaku?" Yukari asked, "Isn't he the leader? Why didn't you ask me to tail _him_?"

"Him being the leader is just a suspicion," Momo replied.

"A pretty major one, but a suspicion nonetheless," Anzu added.

"And he would be expecting and looking out for an informant working for the Overseer," Momo continued.

The air went silent as everyone had run out of things to say.

"You're dismissed, Yukari," Anzu finally said.

"Thanks you, miss Anzu!" Yukari said with another salute. She turned on her heels and marched in calculated steps for the exit. Anzu smiled at her enthusiasm as she left.

"What next, Overseer?" Momo asked after Yukari left the room.

"Just wait and see, I guess," Anzu shrugged, shoving another sweet potato in her mouth before wrapping the packet up. "Let's not poke a sleeping bear."

* * *

Since the lights had turned off for the night, Yukari found herself entering a pitch black dormitory when the doors to her share room hissed open. She reached over to her Pip-Boy to turn her light on, and in response, three other lights inside the room illuminated.

The faces of Miho, Saori and Hana, tucked in their beds, were lit up in the dark.

"Geez, you guys look terrifying!" Yukari whispered. The Pip-Boy lights only had one colour setting, that being green. And because the source of light was coming from their wrists, the three girls' faces cast upwards shadows like they were holding flashlights under their chins.

"So, Yukari," Saori started as she sat up in her bed and crossed her arms. "What did the Overseer want to meet with you for?"

"That's... confidential..." she then smiled as she realised she got to use that word.

"It's not anything we need to be worried about, is it?" Saori challenged, casting a glare.

"N-no!" Yukari didn't _think_ that was a lie. She made her way into the room and started to undress from her jumpsuit.

"Yukari," Miho spoke unsurely, "I'm worried about you..."

"Why's that?"

"Because it's _you_!" Miho responded. "You're always getting yourself into trouble!"

"Name one."

"Saunders," all three girls said in perfect unison.

"This time's different," Yukari said climbing up into her bunk.

"Yeah, you're being asked this time," Saori scoffed.

"I don't like keeping secrets from you either!" Yukari pleaded, "But miss Anzu made it clear to me that this couldn't get out."

Saori huffed, slid back under the covers from sitting up and turned over. A moment later, her light clicked off.

"Just please promise me, Yukari," Miho begged, "that you won't get hurt."

Yukari took a moment to consider if she could make that promise. And then she remembered it was Miho Nishizumi. There was only one answer she could possibly give her.

"I promise, miss Nishizumi."

"Good," Miho said happily with a smile, unseen to Yukari, "Now go to sleep."

"Yes, commander," Yukari joked back.

* * *

 _You have become addicted to alcohol_

Anzu stared at the words as they appeared as a separate window on her Pip-Boy. There was a sharp _pop_ as air rushed back into the bottle that she just pulled away from her lips. She could do nothing but stare a hole through the screen, her mouth hanging slightly open.

She clenched her fist and let her arm drop. She grit her teeth and shut her eyes tight, squeezing the neck of the bottle.

And then she threw it across the room.

The bottle shattered and what little was left of the sake splashed onto the wall of the Overseer's office. Anzu leant forward in her seat and held her head in her hands, her elbows resting on the desk.

 _This job is destroying me..._

She should've realised sooner. The moment she had even _considered_ resorting to alcohol, she should've realised. The moment she had decided to keep a hip flask on herself, she should've realised. The moment she decided to keep a secret stash of sake in the office, she should've realised.

The moment she had decided to crack open that secret stash at two o'clock in the morning, she _definitely_ should've realised.

She settled her arms down on the desk and buried her face into them. And before long her breathing started to hitch, and she felt the need to sniff.

Anzu Kadotani, the Student Council President of Ooarai Girls High School and Overseer of Vault 131, was crying.

"I-I can't-t do th-this any-anymore..."

What could she do? Was there anything she _could_ do? She could turn herself into the infirmary to seek help, but word would eventually get out that the Overseer, who a lot of the residents were already on the fence about in terms of feelings, was an alcohol addict at 18.

Could Momo or Yuzu help? They could give her moral support, but that was about it. And she didn't want to risk tainting their image of her. They respected her and followed her and she couldn't afford to risk losing that.

And then she raised her head in a moment of inspiration. Her eyes were already puffy and red and there were streaks of tears running down her cheeks that glinted in the light.

She wiped her face with her sleeve and sniffed hard, and then she made her way over to the filing cabinet in the corner of the room.

It was Yuzu's filing cabinet. Anzu had never even touched it, she left all the paperwork to Yuzu. But when she asked Yuzu to give her an inventory report, she always opened the...

Second drawer down. Anzu grabbed the handle and yanked it open. She flicked through the files looking for a document that might resemble what she was after.

 _Storeroom inventory._

Perfect.

She pulled the file out and flicked through it. It was basically a spreadsheet in printed form, with numbers crossed out and rewritten to keep track of how much stock they had per item in the storeroom. Some pages got more attention than others.

The page Anzu was looking for was completely spotless.

 _Fixer (section 1, shelf 3, row 1) - Current inventory: 13_

Anzu's eyes lit up as she spotted a potential solution to this problem she had caused herself. As Overseer, she had made sure to learn about a lot of the new products and brands that would be circulating inside her vault. Fixer was a medicine that cured addiction, guaranteed, however it was in short supply. Judging by the stock history however (as in, there was none) it was also in short demand.

She smiled and went back to her desk. She grabbed a pen and scribbled out the number and wrote '12' in the next box down.

Date and time of withdrawal? She wrote down the date from three days ago at twelve in the afternoon. She closed the file and replaced it in the drawer.

Checking nobody was in the storeroom on the security camera feed, Anzu then made her way to execute step one of sorting herself out.

* * *

Anzu cracked open the box containing the Fixers and pulled one out.

 _This is it... I can stop with my addiction, right here, right now. I can forget this ever happened._

BEEP

Her Pip-Boy lit up. She looked down at it and raised her arm to look at the screen.

 _You are suffering from mild withdrawal symptoms._

As she read those words, her skin started to feel itchy, and the most devilish thought crossed her mind.

 _One more... what harm could one more do? If I used the Fixer now I wouldn't have got to savour my last drink..._

 _...one more._

She put the box back and pocketed the Fixer and made her way to the part of the storeroom she knew all to well by now.

And once more, not for the first time, she found herself contemplating in front of the alcohol shelf.

BEEP

 _You are still suffering from mild withdrawal symptoms._

 _One more._ She nodded.

* * *

Miho was resting her head on her fist, a squashed smile on her face. The sounds of communal life were just white noise to her as she disconnected herself from the world. In the mess hall, students were chatting lively amongst themselves about their lessons.

But Miho was busy something else. She was drawing little chibis of her and her sister on the back of a napkin. They were skipping together, hand in hand, their eyes shut tight and with smiles so large they completely took up the lower half of their heads. Miho couldn't decide if she liked that or not, she thought she might have gone a bit overboard.

"Miho!" she jumped as someone brought her crashing down to Earth by putting a hand on her shoulder. She put her hand to her heart from the sudden shock.

"Oh sorry!" Saori giggled when she saw her reaction, "You were really tuned out there!"

"I guess I was!" Miho giggled back. "What is it?"

"Did you see where Yukari went?" Saori asked. "I suppose not, considering."

"No, I didn't," Miho shook her head.

Over in the dorm wings, Yukari was casually on the border between the student wing and the adult wing. She was leaning against the wall, nose deep in a school book. She wasn't paying any attention to what was actually in it, and occasionally she would turn over a page.

A ways down the hall, she heard the hiss of one of the dorm rooms opening. She shot a very quick glance to the side with her eyes to see what it was.

One of Hangyaku's lieutenants was exiting his room. Perfect.

He made his way further down the wing. Yukari stood her ground, still pretending read her book.

He knocked on one of the doors, and the resident answered. She wasn't close enough to hear them talking, but the lieutenant was then joined by this resident in their little walk.

Two became three. The little troupe then made their way back up the wing, towards Yukari. Her heart started beating, she didn't know why, there was no way they'd be onto her.

They passed by her without so much as a glance.

Now, Yukari was just an informant. Anzu had made it clear that it wasn't her responsibility to ask residents of suspicious activity or the action against it. Her job was to gather the data and inform the correct authorities.

Not that this was suspicious activity, it was just... the three people were all the targets that Yukari had been told to pay extra attention to. Her curiosity had certainly been intrigued.

She followed them. She tried to keep herself hidden from their view, by either making sure there was a shut door between them, or she would slow down her pace until they turned a corner, or something to that effect. While tailing them, she tried running through her head what they could be doing.

They weren't heading to the commercial wing, so they were unlikely going to relax. Heck, was she sure these guys were even friends, as opposed to just dirty rebel comrades? Their last names were all different, so they weren't related. They didn't work in the same departments, so no work relation. In her efforts to tail them all separately in the past she'd never seen them interact with each other before...

Just what were they doing?

And then they rounded a corner that Yukari wasn't pleased with.

 _Doesn't that hall lead to...?_

She checked the map on her Pip-Boy. Surely enough, that way lead to the armoury and storeroom, with another corner that connected back to the more publicly used halls, with the door to the infirmary on the way.

 _Unless they're taking a really roundabout route to the medical ward, they're heading for either the armoury or the storeroom._

She stood on the edge of the corner wand watched them. They stopped in front of the storeroom. One of them gestured toward the control monitor, and another went to type something on it while the others crowded around him to hide the act.

As soon as she saw this, Yukari left. She knew just who to talk to about this.

* * *

"I ddddon't wwwwant to shet the woooooorld on fiiiiyaaaaah..." Anzu was rolling her head around on top of her shoulders, sitting on the floor and leaning against the shelving unit. She raised the bottle to her mouth and licked the inside of the neck for any leftover droplets.

She was rather proud of herself. She had managed to pace herself and had only drank four bottles dry in the four and a half hours she had been here.

"Iiiiiiin m-m-my... my? yeah. Mmmmy hearch I havvvvvve buch oooooone deeeeeshjiiiiiiireeee..."

Her intoxictated heightened senses alerted her to the sound of footsteps behind her.

 _Huh, footsteps... wonder what those are doing?_

"Aaaaand thhhhat one ishhhhhhhh youuuuuuu..." she made an effort to sing under her breath.

"What the fuck is this?"

"Blurgh?"

Anzu lookd around with squinted eyes, and over to her left there was a man standing there. She raised her head to look up at him but couldn't figure out how to stop, went too far and fell over backwards, the empty bottles clattering around her.

She shut her eyes tight as there was a light in the ceiling behind the man's head, which hurt her head to look at. The hard, cold floor was surprisingly comfy, and she couldn't help turn her had to rest her cheek on the ground.

 _Huh, there's a lot of dirt on the floor..._

"Well, this fucking rich, boys!" one of them said.

 _People..._

"Huh. I think we struck gold with this," a second voice chuckled.

 _There are people...?_

"Bitch didn't even leave any for us!" a third joined in.

 _I wonder what they're doing here._

"Oh, Hangyaku's going to love this!" said the first.

 _Yeah, he probably will._

Anzu felt someone grab her wrist, but only just, she had lost a lot of feeling. She didn't think to turn to see who it was, and didn't object to them pulling her up.

 _There REALLY is a lot of dirt on the floor!_

"C'mon, Overseer," her snatcher said, "I think you've had enough."

"Whr're we goinnng?" she slurred, her head rolling around on her shoulders.

"Back to your office, of course!" he said sweetly, sweetly enough that Anzu didn't question the obviously kind intentions.

The gentleman slung Anzu's arm over his shoulder.

"Dude," one of the others spoke up, "She's too short. You're bending your knees so much you're basically squatting."

"Yeah," the third laughed, "Just pick her up!"

The man sighed. Anzu was oblivious to what they were saying, and felt a rush as she was suddenly swept off her feet.

"Weeeeeee!" she cried.

"Congratulations on the marriage," one of the other two chuckled.

"Shut it," Anzu's helper scoffed. "Jesus, she weighs nothing!" he added, lifting her up and down.

Anzu giggled at the head rush.

"She really is out of it," one of the three observed.

"Let's go," another added.

They made it only a few steps before there was the loud hiss of a snake. Well, that was how Anzu interpreted it at the time, at least.

"Oh, shit," one of the three spat.

Anzu then recognised the sound of Sodoko's raw voice. "And just what do you three think you're doing?"

"I understand how this might look," Anzu's carrier started, "But we were just taking her back to her office."

Sodoko, flanked by two other Morals Committee members, crossed her arms and scowled. He wouldn't have admitted it, but that look of Sodoko's scared the man haf to death.

"Then I suppose you wouldn't have any objections to handing her over?" Sodoko asked.

"O-of course not..."

With a snap of her fingers, Sodoko gestured to one of her subordinates to take Anzu. The Committee member stepped forward and Anzu was exchanged. The Committee member struggled a little more under Anzu's weight, but she was still so light and small it wasn't _that_ much of a struggle. The Committee member carried her away.

"So, what are two reknowned rebellion members doing in the storeroom without clearance?" Sodoko continued.

"Can the 'rebellion' shit," Anzu's helper, whom Sodoko noticed was the target Yukari had been asked to tail, spoke up. "You've got no proof we're part of this supposed faction. How did you know we were here anyway?"

"That's classified," Sodoko growled. "Now, I'm feeling generous today, so how's about we make a deal?"

"I'm listening."

"You three forget you saw the Overseer in here, and I'll let you go without charge."

"Charge?" he scoffed, "You're not the police, you know."

"The Morals Committee polices Vault 131 to ensure everyone follows the rules, and punishes those who don't accordingly. Now, are you going to accept the deal, or am I going to have to arrest you?"

The man scoffed. "Fine, we'll accept."

"Good, now get out of here."

* * *

Anzu hurled into the bucket again.

"Geurgh..." he coughed. "It feels like I've been kicked in the head..."

"This is just _fantastic_!" Momo threw her hands into the air. "The view of the Council has been permanently tainted! This is the last thing we needed to maintain our image!"

"Momo, please calm down..." Yuzu begged, her hands clasped together worryingly.

Momo fell backward onto the couch and let out a heavy sigh.

At the Overseer's desk, Anzu retched again, which was followed by splashing from the bucket. Yukari continued rubbing circles into her back.

"Good job on reporting those three, miss Akiyama," Sodoko acknowledged, her arms crossed. "We got there just in time."

Yukari gave a slight nod.

After the three men had left the storeroom, Sodoko locked it up again, leaving behind a Morals Committee member to guard it while someone was being scrambled to change the password. A lot of the students were back in classes, so while taking Anzu back to the office, it was mostly adults that spotted them along the way.

"Has she taken the Fixer yet?" Momo asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, she has," said Yukari.

"So what happens now?" Sodoko asked.

"For now... we wait," Momo sighed.

"Is that wise?"

"What else can we do?!" Momo shouted, pursing her brow and baring teeth, though Sodoko was unfased by her outburst.

"You know word is going to get around," she gruffed.

"But..." Yuzu squeaked, "Didn't you tell those men to-"

"Not from them. Even if they do keep their end of the deal, one of the countless other witnesses is going to mention they saw the Overseer throwing up in the halls while being carried."

"I think the rebels will use this as a chance to call our leadership into question," Momo thought aloud.

"Th-then..." Yuzu stuttered, "What will we do?"

"We'll give them what they want..." the hollow, echoing voice of Anzu with her head in a bucket emanated. All eyes turned to her. She sat up and put the bucket to one side. "If they really want to question our leadership, we will give them the chance to have their voices heard."

"B-but... Overseer..." Momo stood up. "The contract-"

"Fuck the contract. I have proven that I am not fit to be Overseer-"

"Overseer, you are! You just-"

"Quiet, Kawashima."

Momo was silenced, her mouth slightly agape as she processed what she had just heard. She slowly put her hand to her chest from the surprise.

"If the people of Vault 131 believe I am unfit to lead them, then we shall settle it just like any government would."

"You mean... a vote?"

"Yes," Anzu closed her eyes. "The people of Vault 131 will vote for their Overseer-"

Her eyes shot wide open as she grabbed the bucket and shoved her head back inside.

* * *

Word had certainly spread very quickly amongst the enclosed community of Vault 131 that the Overseer had been found drunk in the storeroom. There had been rumours that stocks were disappearing, and up until now it had been believed that it was just a series of thieves or the rebels trying to cause trouble, but now Anzu was being labelled as the perpetrator.

Momo had been given the order by Anzu to prepare the vault for an election. Anzu's fears were well placed, as within hours of her discovery in the storeroom, people were calling for her removal from power. The rebels had taken it upon themselves to make sure the word was spread, twisting it slightly into propaganda. The Morals Committee members were armed and placed near the Overseer's office because of threats of riots.

Hangyaku had made himself known to the Council, he wished to be allowed a spot on the election. Momo was going to refuse, but the order of Anzu, his request was accepted.

 _1 day later..._

Anzu hadn't left the office in 24 hours. She didn't want to leave and face the residents she had let down. She had her heads in her hands with her elbows on her desk.

The door hissed open. She was relieved but at the same time dreading whoever it was that was coming in.

"Miss Kadotani..."

"Miho?"

Anzu looked up at the face of Miho, who was mirroring an expression of distress similar to Anzu's own. She was accompanied by a Morals Committee member, dressed in Vault Riot armour. Anzu hated seeing them in those, she hated to think that she let the vault get into a state where she had to arm her police with riot gear.

"How are you feeling?" Miho asked.

"I'll be honest, Nishizumi, not great," Anzu responded, leaning back in her chair. "Honestly, I'm hoping they vote against me so I can quit this job."

Miho opened her mouth slightly to gasp silently. She reached into her jumpsuit pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag, placed it on top of the desk.

When she removed her hand, Anzu saw it was a bag of sweet potatoes.

Anzu felt a lump build in her throat. She couldn't hold it in, and burst into a fit of tears.

"Oh!" Miho cried. "I-I'm sorry, I-"

Still crying, Anzu leapt out of her seat, ran around the desk and tackled Miho for a hug.

"Miho," Anzu sobbed, "Thank you so much."

Miho returned the hug, trying not to cry herself.

"You're welcome, miss Kadotani. I just want to see you happy again."

* * *

The election went very smoothly. Hangyaku had put in a personal order to all his members to not cause a scene, as this was an important step in the rebellion's campaign. They had achieved the result they wanted, it'd be foolish to waste it.

At two tables in the mess hall, two Morals Committee members were seated with boxes of blank ballots. Two queues of people approached the tables to take their turn to sign the ballot, and then place them into a bucket. Standing between the tables, Yuzu ticked off every member of the vault as they approached.

The process took several hours, but all the residents finally voted and the buckets were collected. Momo chose four random residents to count the ballots to prove no fixing was at hand.

This process also took a while.

And then, that evening, during dinner, all idle chatter was silenced by Momo over the vault's networked speaker system.

Miho and most of the Tankery team were sharing a table, wanting to spend some time together to feel closer in these slightly troubled times. None of Turtle or Mallard team were there, and the teams were sitting close to their respective members.

Miho was just in the middle of some doodling in a notebook she had bought to practice drawing when Momo's announcement began.

 _Attention all vault residents_ , she said, _the results for the vote of the next Overseer are in._

She paused for a moment, half to give time for all the residents she couldn't hear to quieten down, half for dramatic effect, as a shark's grin played across her lips.

 _Earning approximately 45% of the vote, miss Kadotani shall remain as-_

The rest of her broadcast was drowned out and unheard as a cacophonous mix of cheers and frustrated groans echoed throughout the mess hall. Even the tankery team couldn't hold their excitement. Much of the members were whooping and punching the air; even Miho couldn't help but sneak in a light contraction of the elbow with a fist, whispering a "Yes!".

* * *

"So, Overseer, how are you feeling?" Momo asked, as she pulled away from the broadcasting system in the corner of the Overseer's office.

Anzu was sitting in her chair, hugging her legs, the large adult-sized seat easily fit her feet on it with the rest of her.

"Surprised, I guess," she replied. "I mean...how?"

"I did some looking into that," Yuzu said, "I was curious as to the division of demographics in the vault. Approximately 50% of the vault population consists of students from Ooarai High School," Anzu's eyes widened at the information, "So I think you got the majority vote because most of the vault saw you as a leader before they were vault residents," Yuzu finished.

"Classic politics," a male voice pierced through the air as the office doors hissed open, "You got the vote of the majority demographic, rather than those who actually matter, like the working class."

"Hangyaku..." Anzu breathed. She put her legs down and took a deep breath, composing herself and trying to put on a mask of authority. "It's nice to finally meet you," she lied.

"How did you get in?" Momo growled.

"I told the guards I had a meeting with you and they believed me," he replied bluntly. "Nice to see our police force is gullible."

 _You slimy worm..._ Anzu thought.

"What do you want?" Anzu asked, resting her elbows on the desk, locking her fingers together, lightly placing her chin on top of them.

"I just wanted to congratulate you," he placed his arms across his torso, each hand cupping the others' elbow, a wry smile playing across his face, "Despite the bias, you still won fair and square."

"It's not a competition," Anzu said over her fingers.

"I can still congratulate a square victory, can't I?"

"Not _fair_ and square?"

"Pfft," he scoffed, "Of course not," and he grinned with a set of perfectly white teeth. His smile lines on his cheeks were very prominent.

"What are your intentions, Hangyaku?"

"Miss Overseer, I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean," he said condescendingly, feigning ignorance.

Anzu closed her eyes and took a breath. He was baiting her, she could tell, that stupid grin wasn't gone.

"You and your... group..." she said carefully, thinking that calling it a rebellion would imply she was afraid of it. "You clearly haven't got what you wanted, which was to see me removed. What can I offer you to ask you to calm your activity?"

"Such big and formal words for a young lady," he said. "Quite simply, miss Kadotani..."

And he took a sudden step forward and slammed his hands down on her desk. Momo was reaching for the 9mm hidden behind the coffee machine, but froze as she realised that neither Anzu nor Hangyaku took any further action.

Anzu remained completely still. She was still sat still, elbows on the desk, fingers laced together. The most he had managed to get out of her was a blink of her eyes. Her heart had sped up as well, but she wasn't actively showing any signs of being startled.

She noticed that the scar running the length of his neck was pulsing ever so slightly, like a popping vein.

"All I want..." he continued, hands planted firmly on the desk, "Is for you to step down and pave the way for me. If you revoke your position right now, you can continue living peacefully in Vault 131 under my rule, in a strong and stable community."

Anzu was tempted.

Very.

But she was also a very stubborn person.

"No."

Hangyaku sighed through his nose.

Momo reached behind the coffee machine and traced her fingertips along the pistol grip. Just in case.

The two stared at each other. Anzu noticed his scar pulsing more. The air hung silently for what felt like ages.

"Goodbye, miss Kadotani," he said, retracted his hands, turned around and left without another word or glance.

Momo and Yuzu followed him with their eyes until he left the room. When the door hissed shut they looked at Anzu.

"What now?" Momo asked, pulling her hand out from behind the machine.

"Put the Committee on high alert," Anzu said. "Just in case..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sometimes, you have to take a step back and ask yourself "What am I doing?"**

 **I'm writing a story about anime schoolgirls becoming alcohol addicts and getting involved in politics. Where did my life go? Where did this _story_ go?!**

 **I need to fix this...**


	10. You Hit Me Like an Atom Bomb

**Chapter 10: You Hit Me Like an Atom Bomb**

* * *

A couple of weeks passed. A lot of the residents were voicing their concerns and distaste for Anzu's re-election, most of which were adults. None of Anzu's supporters were standing up to defend her, not that she could blame them, most of her supporters were kids.

Sodoko and Mako were becoming the victims of discrimination, since Mako was a known supporter of Anzu as Overseer and Sodoko was the head of the Morals Committee. Hardly a day went by now when she didn't hear something along the lines of "You're just in the pocket of the Overseer!"

Anzu had suspected that the two ghouls would be discriminated, and in fact always had been, mostly in passing or behind their back. But now some of the sick, horrid ghoul haters were going out of their way to find them and abuse them.

Anzu had no sympathy for that kind of foul play in her vault, so she repurposed some empty dormitories into prison cells and kept the criminals in detention.

Surprisingly, the Resistance had slowed down in activity, one could be forgiven for thinking they had fallen apart. But Anzu knew better.

"You still think they're active?" Momo asked her.

"Undoubtedly," Anzu nodded from her desk, tapping her lips in thought, "Hangyaku is a competitive man. Someone with a purpose. He wouldn't give up so easily. He won't let something official like a re-election stop him from achieving his goal."

Momo's mouth wrinkled into a grin as Yuzu asked, "What makes you so sure?"

"Because he's just like me," Anzu replied bluntly.

" _Good afternoon, vault dwellers!_ " Anzu's Pip-Boy perked up. She smiled and turned up the volume, bringing the conversation to a screeching halt. She had taken to listening to the Brothers' broadcasts like her residents to take her mind off things.

Drinking was certainly out of the question.

" _This is Musen!_ " Musen's young, energetic voice chirped.

" _And Ongaku!_ " Ongaku's deeper, soothing voice followed.

" _And we are the Broadcast Brothers!_ " they had that introduction practiced and refined to a tee.

" _Something interesting news for you today, folks,_ " Ongaku spoke up, " _Did you know that the weather is still active?_ "

" _Does this relate back to that nuclear winter thing you were talking about a while back?_ "

" _Not quite. While it's true that it is permanently overcast until further notice, as we speak there is a natural phenomenon never recorded before!_ "

" _Well, gee!_ " Musen exaggeratedly cried. " _And what might that be?_ "

"I really want to slap that guy in the face," Momo sneered.

" _Well,_ " Ongaku carried on, " _for lack of a better term, it's a storm. It looks like a storm and behaves like one, but its not raining precipitation!_ "

" _I don't think you 'rain' precipitation, Ongaku..._ "

" _I will slap you._ "

"Please do," Momo quipped, and Anzu shot a look at her.

" _Anyway,_ " Ongaku continued once more, " _Our tools show us that the radiation levels on the surface are considerably higher when this storm is in the area, meaning that we can only come to the conclusion that it rains radiation itself._ "

" _How can you rain radiation? Isn't it a wave? Like... gamma waves?_ "

" _That's a surprisingly smart question coming from you._ "

Anzu and Yuzu giggled. Ongaku carried on before Musen could quip back. " _Gamma waves are but one state of radiation, to put it simply. There are also Alpha and Beta particles that carry radioactive charges. We believe that it is these very particles that are raining down from the storm clouds. You can feel them on your face as if they were rain, but they're actually tiny particles potentially penetrating your skin_."

" _So... stay indoors?_ "

" _Yeah, just don't leave your vault basically. But if some unfortunate souls are out there on the surface, the storm is on a course toward the eastern, central coast of Kanto. Pretty much the entire Ibaraki prefecture will be affected. Stay safe!_ "

There was a moment of pause before the instrumental music from earlier started playing again.

"So basically..." Yuzu started, "A storm is coming?"

"Seems like it," Anzu replied.

* * *

 _The following early morning..._

Miho was asleep. She was at peace, she was resting, she was unbeknownst to the world around her. Completely innocent. But some of the worst things can happen to a person while asleep, despite its peaceful nature. Miho had learned that first hand.

And she was about to learn it again.

There was a loud bang that resonated in the hall outside. It was slightly muffled from being on the other side of the doors, but it was enough of a commotion to wake her. She opened her eyes. The room was dark.

 _What was that?_ she thought.

She heard some shuffling above her.

"Yukari?" she peeped.

"Yes, miss Nishizumi?" Yukari responded.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes..."

"What was that?"

"I don't-"

Another bang, slightly louder, slightly clearer. It was like somewhat was striking the metal walls of the hall with a hammer.

Yukari made a move to get down from the bunk.

"Where are you going?" Miho asked.

"To check it out."

Miho wanted to argue, but knew that it'd be futile. Yukari was currently enticed with the possibility of an adventure, and there was no stopping her.

Though if she had noticed Yukari already had her jumpsuit on, she definitely would've thought that suspicious and fought harder, but it was too dark to notice.

* * *

Yukari stepped out into the hallway. She checked her Pip-Boy. It was five in the morning. It was still too early for the main hall lights to be on, so there was currently only a faint glow from the bulbs.

She tugged on her jumpsuit slightly, as it had ridden up slightly in the night. She hated wearing it in bed, and it was starting to smell, but she was needed for quick response for miss Anzu, even in the dead of night.

When miss Nishizumi had first asked her if she knew what the noise had been, she truthfully tried to answer she didn't. Then came the second bang, and Yukari was now leaping into action. She was hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

She lightly jogged down the hallway in the direction of the Overseer's office.

Loud noises, the middle of the night, so soon after the election, security on high-alert... Yukari _really_ hoped the noises weren't what she-

She collided into someone as she rounded a corner. She hadn't noticed that she had picked up the pace into a full run, and ran face first into someone's chest.

She fell backwards with an _oomph_ on the floor.

Clutching her head, she looked up at them.

"I am so sorr-"

She stopped completely as she noticed that the person in front of her was wearing a flak jacket (oh, _that's_ why it felt like running into a brick wall) and was holding... a gun. A pistol in their left hand.

She looked up further to their face, hoping above all else that they were a member of the Morals Committee...

They weren't.

The man tutted. He cocked his wrist and rested it on his waist, making an effort to show off the weapon.

"Alright, kid, this is your unlucky day," he started.

Yukari looked around. further down the hall he had been coming from, she could see two more men in flak jackets, pinning at least two struggling people against the wall. Their captives looked like Morals Committee members.

"Hey!" the guy snapped his fingers in her face, "Kid, you just stumbled on to something ugly. Now come with me, be a good girl, keep quiet, cooperate, and I promise you won't get hurt."

He offered his free hand.

Yukari stared at it. She didn't know what to do. Go with them? Run? She flashed a mental image of the vault map in her mind. If she could just get to the Overseer's office, possibly giving this guy the slip on the way, she would be safe. But he had a gun... maybe he wasn't intending to use it?

"Kid, you're trying my patience," removing his offered hand, he replaced it with the other, the one gripping the pistol. And either this guy had zero trigger discipline... or he really intended to use it.

And in that moment, acting on her own, before she even realised it, a stupid quote just decided it was going to make its grand entrance.

"You haven't even taken the safety off, rookie," she said with a smirk, and gripped her hair into a fist, realising that that might be the last thing she ever said.

The man faltered, pursed his lip, and leaned over slightly to look at the side of the pistol.

 _No way..._ Yukari thought, befuddled it actually worked.

She raised her leg in a pseudo roundhouse kick, her foot colliding with the man's hand.

"Bitch!" he yelled.

Yukari didn't wait. Using the momentum of the kick, she rolled onto her front and scrambled up into a run. She heard the clatter of the gun hitting the floor.

"We got a runner!"

And run she certainly did.

The shortest route to the office would be straight ahead, but this was a straight stretch, and Yukari knew better than to run in a straight line away from a man with a gun. She darted into another hallway, a mere second later hearing the sound of gunfire and the ping of a bullet hitting the wall of where she had been moments before.

She let out a squeal, and the ping caused her to freeze in place as she realised how narrowly she had escaped death.

But hearing running boots on metal cured her of her paralysis and she dashed again.

She tried to always keep a corner between her and the chaser, while still trying to get to the Overseer's office. She took a risk running down one particular corridor, just to get some distance covered.

A gunshot, and the bullet pinged in between her running feet.

She squealed in terror again and sprinted faster than she had ever run before for the next turning, nearly slamming into the wall as she rounded it.

And rounding one more corner, she saw two Morals Committee members standing outside the office door. Seeing her approach - or rather, run at them - they brandished their assault rifles that Yukari hadn't realised they were armed with and pointed them at her.

Yukari slid to a halt and held her hands up.

"P-please! Help me! I need to s-see there's a m-man chasing Overseer, I need to-" The terror on her face was more of a sign of what was going on than anything she could possibly say.

One of the Committee members gestured for the other to lower her weapon. With their rifles pointing to the floor, the same member stepped forward.

"Yukari Akiyama?" she asked.

Yukari could only nod frantically, her ears twitching, listening out for that sound of boot on metal. She couldn't hear it, had he stopped chasing her? Was she safe?

The Committee member gestured for Yukari to come over. She pressed some buttons on a console next to the door and it hissed open to Yukari's presence.

"Get in, quickly!" she was ordered by the member.

Yukari stepped inside and the door closed immediately behind her.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," the familiar voice of Anzu said sweetly from the Overseer's desk.

"M-miss Anzu!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Yukari," Anzu calmed, "We're safe in here."

Looking around the room, Yukari saw a pistol on the Overseer's desk within arm's reach of Anzu, as well as two coffee mugs. Momo was still in her nightwear, frantically typing at the console. A blanket and pillow was tossed about frantically on the couch from where someone had presumably been sleeping, and Yuzu was brewing coffee at the machine.

"Want one, miss Akiyama?" she asked.

"Oh, um, no th-" she stopped herself. Yukari had never been much of a coffee person but she was craving a hot drink to comfort herself with. "Actually, yes please."

"Milk? Sugar?"

 _Umm... yes?_ she thought.

What did people usually say in response to this question?

"Yes and two, please. Thanks, miss Yuzu," hopefully that'd take the bitterness of the coffee away.

"So Yukari!" Anzu said, sitting up in her seat. She was smiling, but... some gut feeling was telling Yukari that the smile was not genuine, "What's happening on the street?"

"Miss Anzu, there's gunfire!" Yukari flung her arms out. "There are men in flak jackets! Taking members of the Morals Committee hostage! They tried to shoot me!"

Momo stopped typing at that and she shared a look with Anzu.

"They're firing on civilians," Momo confirmed.

And the fake smile melted away from Anzu's face to reveal what was hidden underneath. Her face contorted into an expression of fury. She squeezed her lips together tight and as she slightly looked down, her eyes seemed to sink further into her skull, casting a shadow over her sockets.

"Your orders, Overseer?"

Anzu Kadotani, the Overseer of Vault 131, was not happy.

"Kawashima, they are intending harm upon my citizens," she spoke slowly, sternly and through gritted teeth, "The prior order still stands: arrest any unauthorised person brandishing heavy duty weaponry, but add the following addendum..."

And she looked up into Momo's eyes, the latter of which flinched at her gaze and let her mouth drop slightly open.

"Shoot to incapacitate anyone who resists arrest, and as for anyone who fires back... shoot to kill."

The room went silent.

For what felt like hours until the coffee machine signalled it had finished its brew. With the silence shattered, Momo went back to typing on the console. There was a system in the vault where short text messages could be sent to certain Pip-Boys within a short range through radio waves. Yuzu took the mug and gave it to Yukari.

"Are you hurt, miss Akiyama?" Yuzu asked.

"I don't think so..." Yukari answered, taking the cup.

"Please sit down," Yuzu gestured to the couch.

Without a further word and a thousand yard stare etched on to her face, Yukari sat at the couch. She eyed her coffee. She blew on it a little and took a sip.

It was... meh. Tasted better than when she last tried some, and the sugar was certainly helping the taste. Yukari started to feel disconnected from the world around her. She could feel the hot coffee sliding down her throat, the warmth radiating to the rest of her body. But then the sound of gunfire replayed again in her head. She tried drinking some more, as a distraction, but... she couldn't stop hearing the gunshots.

"Yukari?"

She flinched, nearly spilling the coffee all over herself. She hadn't realised Anzu had approached her. It wasn't until the Overseer had put a hand on her shoulder that she realised her presence.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

"J-just a little shocked..."

Anzu pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that," said Anzu. She felt genuinely guilty for letting this happen.

"What's going on?" Yukari asked.

"A coup," Momo answered bluntly. "We defended an attack on the office earlier. They tried to make to make it quick by going straight for the Overseer, but we fended them off."

"You.. fended them off?" Yukari looked back and forth between them.

"The gun's not for show," Anzu said.

Yukari grimaced at the thought. "Did you... you know...?" she gestured at the gun on the desk with her chin.

"No," Anzu answered, "Nobody was injured, but shots _were_ fired. They retreated pretty quickly, I don't think they were expecting us to retaliate quite as fast. It seemed like they were banking on that quick win."

"And now they're in the halls?" Yukari asked. "Shooting civilians?!"

"Not exactly," Momo answered, peering at the console. "They're mostly making threats. The Morals Committee is arresting a lot of them, but usually they fight back. No civilians have been harmed yet, though you're the first we've seen of a bystander being caught in the crossfire."

"I was hoping they would blow off their steam now so we could do a mass arrest later," Anzu explained, "But if they're actually shooting then... more drastic actions need to be taken. If they take someone hostage, we're stuffed as a Council, we will _have_ to listen to their demands."

"So..." Yukari inquired, placing the now empty mug on the floor, "What are you going to do?"

Anzu placed a finger to her chin and hummed in thought.

"Overseer!" Momo suddenly cried, "They just broke into the armoury!"

"What!?" Anzu exclaimed. "How did they do that?!"

"I don't know but they're taking what they can!"

Suddenly, there was what sounded like the Morals members outside shouting inaudibly, followed by rapid gunfire.

"Give me a visual on that!" Anzu demanded.

Momo hammered on the keyboard. The gunfire outside stopped and was replaced by screaming. Lots and lots of long, drawn out screaming.

"The guards have been shot..." Momo confirmed.

And then a batter against the office doors.

"And now they're trying to break in..."

Anzu pinched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes tight.

"Oh shit..." Momo whispered.

"What now?" Anzu snarled.

"The rebels in the armoury..."

Another slam against the office doors.

Momo looked straight at Anzu over the monitor of the console. "They found it..."

The two looked at each other, the same realisation sparking within them.

The doors of the office were slammed against once again. They were starting the bend.

Anzu turned around and looked straight at Yukari.

"Yukari, duty calls. I need you to save us..."

And what used to be an expression of fear and trauma on Yukari was now replaced with a new fiery determination.

* * *

"Three, two, one, go!"

The six men barrelled straight into the doors of the Overseer's office with their shoulders, putting all their might and strength into it, kicking off the ground to get as much force in as possible.

They slammed against the door, the dent growing larger with every shove. The double doors were parting in the middle by a fraction.

On the floor, the two Morals Committee members were clutching their legs, screaming in agony. Both had been shot through the leg and were now bleeding out, their weapons confiscated.

Ignoring them, the men stepped back and braced for the next siege.

"Three, two, one, go!"

They charged forward again, the impact with the door rattling their bones. They were getting tired, but if the coup was to be a success, they needed to do this. Hangyaku's orders were clear: capture the Overseer.

The doors were parting from the concave dent now. Someone tried to pry their fingers into it with the intent to pull the doors apart, but it wasn't quite wide enough.

"One more! One more and we can get in!"

They stepped back, dug their feet into the ground (as best as they could on a metal floor) and braced.

"We've got her now! Three, two, one, go!"

They charged forward.

And the door hissed open.

And they all collided with a large stature, blocking the entrance.

"What the fuck was-?" someone started to ask, but stopped when they realised what they were looking at.

The six men took slow steps back as they took in the sight of what was before them. Even the Morals Committee members forgot about the seering pain in their bleeding legs to take in the sight.

It was a large, bulky humanoid, they had seen it before. However, unlike the slouching posture of which they were used to seeing it in, this one was standing straight. The knees weren't bent, the shoulders weren't drooping, and the head was still looking down yes, but it wasn't looking down because it was deactivated.

It was looking down because it was just that tall. And it was looking _at_ them.

Its presence radiated fear, with dark oval yes, the big frowning mouth, the blood red colour scheme with trimmings of white.

Any doubts any of the men had as to what this thing was were crushed when they saw the inscription on its chest.

 _Dengen Yoroi S-03_

"They have _two_?!" someone exclaimed.

One of the girls on the floor started whimpering and crying in pain again as her brain remembered there was a bullet in her leg.

The power armour then leapt into action. It drew an arm back, the whirring of the motors in its joints the only sound that could be heard as the men did nothing, paralysed with fear as to what the armour might do.

With an arm across its chest, and the hand braced, the armour stepped forward with a loud clunk and backhanded one of the rebels.

There was a loud _crunch_ as the metal hand made contact with his skull and he was catapulted down the hall behind him. He flew several feet before making touch down and slid another several feet before coming to a halt.

Five pairs of eyes plus the armour watched as this unfolded.

"Fucking _shoot_ it!" someone ordered.

Backing away further, the five remaining men picked up the weapons they had put on the floor to siege the door and fired frantically at the power armour.

An orchestra of pings followed as each bullet ricocheted off the unmoving power armour, frozen in its pose of one leg forward and arm outstretched. For a moment, it was just pings of the bullets and the screams of the bleeding out Morals Committee members.

It finally started moving again, much to the growing fear in the rebels. It stood up straight again, stepped forward and reached out to one of the rebels. He desperately emptied his magazine into the power armour, as it reached out to him with an unaffected hand.

Then there was a squirt of blood from his head as a bullet ricocheted off the armour was hit him. Without even a cry of pain, he fell over, the wall behind him sporting a splash of blood.

"This is fucking useless!" one of the men cried and dashed away.

One brave soul jumped on the back of the power armour and wrapped his arms around the neck of its helmet. Feeling him trying to pull it off, the power armour acted.

Leaning backward slightly, a piston in the back of either leg activated, striking the metal floor and letting out an ear-splitting _bang_ like a jackhammer and the power armour was thrown backward. It collided with the wall of the hallway behind it and there was a sickening crunch as the power armour crushed the man on its back with several hundreds of pounds of pressure.

"Fuck this shit!" another rebel cried at the sight and sprinted away.

The power armour stepped away from the wall. Its victim was lodged in the metal wall from the impact and did not fall off.

The power armour cast a glance in the direction of the last rebel, who desperately fired his last two bullets straight at the armour's head.

All the helmet did was twitch with each impact.

The man whimpered, and the moment the power armour made a start towards him, he turned and ran.

A moment later, Anzu and Momo came out of the Overseer's office, looking around for any hostiles. Seeing none, Momo then quickly knelt down next to one of the crying Committee members, produced a needle of some kind and jammed it into her leg.

Anzu approached the power armour and looked up at it. It towered over the tiny girl.

"Great job, Yukari," she said with a smile, "We might be able to beat them, yet!"

* * *

Back inside the office, Yukari was still inside her power armour, standing in one corner, and just stayed there. She had let go of all of her weight, but the power armour frame was keeping her suspended, it felt like she was floating underwater. She just couldn't summon the energy to stand up by herself, she wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. Jagged edges of the frame were digging into her legs from her slouching, but she didn't care.

She replayed the events of what happened over and over again in her head. It had only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours. She thought being shot at was bad enough, but...killing someone gave her a thousand yard stare no amount of sweet, non-bitter coffee could hope to wash off.

If those girls hadn't been there, screaming their lungs out, Yukari didn't think she could've done it. When the door opened and she saw the men there, she couldn't bring herself to attack them, the determination to defend the office was quickly flushed away, but then the screaming of the Committee members reminded her that they needed to be saved.

When she made that first attack, the swinging of her arm created a surge of very uncomfortable adrenaline before it was all flushed away by that sickening impact. It was like... it was like when you were riding a train, and there was another train coming in the opposite direction on the next track over; the anticipation of a collision as you watch it, that uncomfortable rush of excitement, all suddenly exploding when it suddenly shoots past your window. Only ten times worse.

She couldn't believe she had done it. She had really underestimated the strength of the armour. Seeing him flying down the hall was horrible. she just froze on the spot and as she processed what she had done. Even when they started shooting at her, she didn't want to move.

But then she heard the screams of the girls again.

Momo had injected them both with a painkiller called Med-X. With Yukari's help, they were then carried back into the office and were now being treated to by Yuzu on the couch, a doctor's bag open at Yuzu's side with an assortment of medical tools and pharmaceuticals now strewn about.

"You two are lucky the bullets didn't strike bone," Yuzu said as cheerily as she could to lighten the atmosphere, "If they had, you'd probably never walk again."

"But we're going to be OK, right?" one of the girls asked.

"Yes," Yuzu replied with a smile, "You'll be bed bound for a while, but you'll be walking again soon!"

She wrapped some bandages around the last leg.

"Well done, miss Akiyama," she said to the statue in the corner of the room, "If they had been out there much longer, they would've lost too much blood!"

Yukari didn't say anything.

Yuzu disposed of her medical gloves in the trash, along with the squashed bullets she had extracted and wrapped in some _very_ blood soaked tissue.

"What happens now?" Momo asked.

"We need to find Hangyaku," Anzu said from her seat, drumming her fingers against the desk. "If we find him and arrest him, they lose their driving force. We might need to send Yukari out to find him."

 _Oh please, no..._

"You know they'll probably try attacking this office again?" Momo pointed out.

"Yes, they probably will..." Anzu scrunched her mouth. "The doors too damaged, and I don't want to pull anymore of my police out of the halls, they need to be out there defending the vault."

"So what are you suggesting?" Momo asked, "That we go with miss Akiyama?"

"Honestly..." Anzu rubbed her temple, "That might be best."

Yukari shut her eyes tight. She didn't want the responsibility! The pressure!

"What about us?" one of the Committee members asked.

"We'll take you back to the dorms," Anzu answered. "You can hide there until this blows over."

"You mean we'll need to walk?" the same girl asked.

"I'm afraid so," Anzu said.

"The Med-X shouldn't have worn off yet," said Momo, "If we move now and move quickly, you shouldn't feel it."

Anzu clapped her hands together. "No time to waste or think anymore, then! Let's go!"

"But what about afterwards?" Yuzu asked. "What's the plan after we get the girls to the dorms?"

"I'll make something up on the way," Anzu replied, grabbing her pistol off the desk, "But we'll definitely need to find Hangyaku."

Anzu approached the unmoving Yukari as Momo and Yuzu helped the Committee members to their feet, as they got used to their slightly unstable, yet painless legs.

"Yukari!" Anzu cooed, knocking on the chest of the armour. "We're off!"

Yukari squeezed her eyes tight.

 _I don't want to do this, but... I have to... to save the vault and my friends, I need to do this..._

* * *

They encountered very little resistance on their way. What few gun-wielding individuals they did meet quickly fled at the sight of Yukari in the power armour suit, much to her relief. Momo had made sure to turn off the console with a secure password so anyone that did raid the office wouldn't have instant access to the entire surveillance network.

They heard and occasional gunshot echoing in the halls, but it could've been coming from anywhere in the vault.

"This is a fairly quiet coup," Yuzu noted.

"Hangyaku wants to maintain a positive image in the eyes of the residents," Anzu stated like it was fact, "What would be the point in slaying the residents he needed to have on his side if the coup was successful? That's why they're doing it so early in the morning, while all the innocent bystanders are asleep. This is meant to be between me and him."

"I suppose, but... where _are_ they all?"

"Actually..." one the Committee members spoke up, "That's a good point. Where are the rest of the Committee members? Didn't you tell them to patrol the halls, miss Overseer?"

"I did..." Anzu replied. Her voice faltered slightly as, despite her attempts to hide it, she was actually worried.

Not much else was said on the matter. They continued through the vault in general silence, their focus on listening out for anyone approaching from around a corner, or the sound of gunshots. It was tricky with the whirring motors in Yukari's armour joints and the stomps as it walked on the metal.

They finally made it to the dorm wing. They found the room of the two girls and gestured them inside.

"The room's empty..." one of them noted, "We share this room with two other Committee members, so they're definitely out there somewhere..."

"Well, you two stay here," Anzu ordered.

"Yes, miss Overseer," they acknowledged, and Anzu left the room, joining Momo, Yuzu and Yukari in her power armour in the halls.

"Alright," Anzu said in a quieter voice, a hand on her hip, "We need to find Hangyaku. If the rebels lose him than they lose-"

She stopped dead and all four heads turned toward the hall door that connected the dorm wing to a branch hall a few feet away. It had just hissed open.

Miho Nishizumi came to a halt at the sight of the Council standing in a dorm hallway armed with weapons and a huge suit of armour standing beside them. She gawked at the sight.

"Aah, miss Nishizumi!" Anzu greeted with a smile, "What a surprise to see you here!"

"I could say the same thing about you, miss Kadotani," Miho spoke slowly as she was still taking in what she was seeing. She then squinted her eyes at the suit as it dawned on her, "Is that Yukari?"

The suit of armour shuffled on the spot.

"What's going on here?" Miho asked.

"Miss Nishizumi," Anzu said seriously, "I think it'd be best if you-"

"There they are!" a shout from the other end of the hallway. All eyes turned to look, and what they saw were three men, one already with the sights of their assault rifle trained down the hall.

Yukari seized the initiative and stepped in front of the Council just as the trigger was pulled. She barely heard the panicked frightened shriek coming from Miho over the sounds of the gun fire. The gun rattled as it fired in full automatic, sending lead speeding down the corridor. Yukari held her arms out and squatted her knees in a desperate attempt to shield everyone.

Anzu was quick to act as well. She stepped toward Miho, the door behind the latter opening to Anzu's presence. Anzu shoved Miho in the chest as hard as she could, and the Nishizumi went tumbling backward, and the door closed in front of her, shielding her from any fire.

Grabbing Yuzu's wrist, Momo ran straight up against the dormitory door of the two Committee members they had just dropped off, which was indented in the wall, spreading herself flat against it.

The man firing the gun was inaccurate, simply resorting to the spray-and-pray tactic. Bullets harmlessly pinged off of Yukari's armour, and ricocheted off the walls of the hall, if they didn't just lodge themselves in.

Anzu then desperately ran back up to Yukari and with her small frame easily hid her entire silhouette behind the giant suit.

The man stopped firing as his magazine ran out of ammo. He lowered his gun as the other two aimed down the hall.

"Overseer Kadotani!" one of them shouted. "You are coming with us! Hangyaku wants to see you in the mess hall!"

They watched for a moment, at the unmoving armour. Yukari didn't know what to do, she didn't want to move and potentially put miss Anzu in further danger, but she also wanted to charge forward and eradicate the threat. The door behind Yuzu and Momo hissed open as one of the Committee members opened it from the inside and they shuffled in for protection.

Anzu considered for a moment what to do. But not for long. Her pride wouldn't let her.

She quickly held up her pistol, leaned out from around Yukari's armour, pointed it down range and pulled the trigger.

Anzu knew that action films were unrealistic, and knew that shooting a gun was nowhere near as easy as they made it out to be. She had managed to anticipate the kick of the gun, but she had not anticipated just how _loud_ it would be.

With her ears ringing, and without looking for the results of her shooting, she dashed for the door that Yuzu and Momo had just taken cover behind and gave Yukari her order.

"Yukari, get rid of them!"

Further bullets started spraying down the hall as the two other men opened fire. Anzu just managed to hide in the crevice of the door frame without getting shot.

From within the power armour, Yukari stood up straight and furrowed her brow and stared down the hall at the three men. In one of the bottom corners of her peripheral vision, the limbs on the little power armour sprite were flashing red in time with each bullet that pinged off her frame.

Yukari wasn't too fussed about these men. Her morals weren't screaming at her quite as much to not hurt them. They were different. There was something these three men had done that nobody else had.

They tried to hurt Miho Nishizumi.

Yukari squat her knees once again, leant forward and activated the ejector button in one of the fingertips. The pistons in the backs of the armour's legs fired, striking the ground and propelling her down the hall at eighty kilometres an hour. Any other time, she probably would've laughed at the looks on their faces.

* * *

 **Chapter title:** _ **You Hit Me Baby Like an Atom Bomb**_ **\- Fay Simmons, recorded 1954.**


	11. Fight It With All of our Might

**Chapter 11: Fight It With All of our Might**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, the story's back after another hiatus. I was moving house, had a five day period before I could move into my new one, didn't have Internet even after I did, blah blah.**

 **Sooooooo to make up for it, I'm making this chapter huge. 12k words. And I think it's finally time to experience some of this so-called "Way of Power Armour" the story is named after, don't you?**

* * *

The sound of the pistons in the power armour's legs were loud enough to wake up anyone in the vicinity, if the shooting hadn't already. The jackhammer-like sounds echoed throughout the metal halls.

The three men had only a split second to react as the power armour came speeding toward them. Aiming for the one in the middle, Yukari braced a fist, and brought it swinging forward as she got close. She mistimed in, and her target only got struck by the peak of the fist's arc, but this fist still had eighty kilometres of velocity behind it. He didn't even go flying back, he just immediately fell backwards, and his head struck the floor with a _clang_.

Yukari's feet touched ground and produced an ear splitting screech as her bent legs tried to bring her to a halt, only to actually be stopped by colliding with the wall at the end of this T junction. Both men cupped their hands over their ears, at least as best they could with an assault rifle in one hand.

As Yukari was still experimenting with the controls to the armour and tried to turn around, one of the two men opened fire upon her back. The other slapped his hands.

"You idiot! You'll shoot the core!"

Yukari turned at the waist to face them, and shortly after, her stepped around on the spot to face forward. Even though it was just mimicking her movements, the weight on the joints made moving feel unnatural.

Both men took more careful aim, at her head. She wasn't completely sure in the armour's defensive capabilities, so she tried to weave her head as she stepped forward. They opened fire, bullets rattling as they left the magazines and bounced harmlessly off the suit.

Yukari swung a clenched fist downward, the motors in the shoulder and the elbow joints of the armour whirring excitedly as she attacked. She caught one of the men on the shoulder, and he dropped like a sack of bricks, screaming in pain and clutching his shoulder with the other arm.

In a panic, the other man dropped his rifle and slid his arms under his companion's shoulders and tried to pull him away. Yukari could see the look on his face. He was genuinely fearing for his life.

She stood up straight, flexed her fingers, and swivelled her arm at the shoulder like a boxer. This only encouraged the man to hurry up with hauling his friend away, who upon seeing the walking weapon prepare another attack, had suddenly remembered his legs worked, and made a run down the hall, one hand still clutched tightly around the pistol grip of his assault rifle.

Yukari watched as they fled. Good, she was glad she didn't have to kill anyone else, especially not an enemy trying to run away.

After a moment of silence, doors in the dormitory hallway started opening. Ooarai students reluctantly poked their heads out to see what the commotion was, a lot darted back inside when they saw Yukari standing at the far end of the corridor.

Anzu strode out of her hiding spot and marched toward her, Momo and Yuzu in tow.

"Great job, Yukari," she said, bending down to pick up an assault rifle. She glanced at either side of it, before activating the safety catch and handing it to Momo, making sure to keep the muzzle pointing upwards. "Check both of them for damage, make sure their safe and then give one to Yukari."

Behind the helmet visors, Yukari's eyes widened in horror.

Momo nodded once and took the rifle. While she wasn't as qualified as Sodoko, she had some training in firearms handling, Anzu had made sure of that. Her reasoning was that it made sense for those in charge to have a basic understanding of all of the important jobs and activities of the vault. It was certainly paying off already.

Momo took the assault rifle and walked away from the group to perform the safety checks. While she did that, Anzu picked up the second rifle and activated the safety catch.

"How are you feeling, Yukari?" she asked the suit.

"Miss Anzu..." the transmission filtered voice of Yukari peeped from within, "Do I have to have a gun?"

Anzu gave a little sigh. "I'm afraid so..."

The power armour visibly slouched at the shoulders.

"Hopefully you won't have to use it, I'm hoping that you with a gun will be intimidating enough that nobody will dare attack. If they do, though, and they attack with the intent to kill, I want you to beat them to the punch."

Before Yukari could protest, however...

"What is going on?" Miho had returned, and the stars must have aligned, for she had a scowl on her face. She didn't look happy.

Anzu hadn't noticed that other students had stepped out into the corridor to observe what was going on. From the other end of the hall where Miho had come from, Erwin, Saemonza, Azusa and Nakajima were also observing, deciding on behalf of their roommates to find out what the commotion was.

"You should all go back to your rooms," Anzu said. She thought about putting a serious tone on, but she felt that the gun she was holding was going to do the job for her.

"Miss Kadotani, you can't expect us to-"

Everyone in the hall jumped, some even squealed, as a gunshot was fired, mimicking the sound of Thor's hammer.

"Sorry!" Momo called, "Forgot to give a warning."

Miho looked back at Anzu. "Is there something that we should be concerned about as vault residents?"

Anzu knew she was backed into a corner. She couldn't say no, that would be lying for a start, and all of these bystanders knew that guns were involved in whatever was going on and the power armour had been deployed. That certainly wasn't "nothing".

And she couldn't say yes, because then she would have to explain what was happening and possibly put them all into a panic.

"And what's happening at the mess hall?" Miho asked.

Ah yes! The mess hall!

"Thanks for reminding me, miss Nishizumi!" Anzu chirped, and turned to Yukari, "You're escorting me to the mess hall. I want to see what Hangyaku wants."

"Hangyaku?" Miho asked, "Isn't he the man that came second in the polls?"

Anzu ignored her. Hopefully she would go away.

"Just stand there and look intimidating," Anzu continued, "Don't shoot unless, y'know... they do first."

Miho looked between Anzu and Yukari. "Yukari, what's going on?"

Uh oh.

"U-umm..."

Anzu sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Some residents aren't too happy with the poll results," Anzu said to Miho, "We're just trying to get them back under control."

"So it's a riot?" Miho asked with a raised brow.

"Yes," Anzu said quickly. Technically it was a coup, one step above a riot, but a little sugar coating never hurt anyone. "So you should all go back to your rooms and wait until we have this under control."

"Miss Overseer!" a voice called from somewhere.

A member of the Morals Committee was jogging up to them with a pistol in her hand and dried blood running from her nose.

Anzu panicked slightly on the inside. This would not be a good sight for the residents. She turned to Yuzu. "You stay here, keep these residents calm and get them to go back to their rooms."

"Yes, miss Overseer!"

Momo was just returning with the rifle at this point.

"Excellent," Anzu said before Momo could say anything, "Give that to Yukari, and then clear this one," she handed her the gun.

Anzu parted from the group and met the Committee member halfway.

"What's happening?" she asked her.

"There's a standoff in the mess hall..."

"What? What do you mean?"

"When you gave the order to sweep the vault earlier this morning..." Anzu remembered giving that order. It was about fifteen minutes before Yukari showed up at the office. "...Chief Sono lead our squad and took us to the mess hall. They shot us on first contact and there was a shootout-"

"Is anyone hurt?" Anzu interrupted her. The blood on this member's face was worrying her. Surely they would send the healthiest member to find the Overseer to tell her about this situation? Maybe she _was_ the healthiest member? Maybe they deliberately sent this one to show how serious the situation was? Too many parameters.

"Umm... there have been some injuries..."

"Any serious injuries?"

"Well, yes..."

Anzu quivered as she breathed in and brought a hand to her forehead.

"But, once the shootout came to a standstill, Hangyaku called a truce. He said that we could treat our injured and send them to the medical wing if we allowed them to do the same."

"Please tell me you did..." Anzu would've taken that deal in a heartbeat.

"Chief Sono took the initiative and agreed to it."

 _Oh, thank God..._ Anzu thought. "So all serious injuries are being treated?"

"Yes, miss Overseer, though I don't know on the patients' current status."

"So what's happening in the mess hall now?"

"Well... guns are being pointed, from both sides, but no shots are being fired. Hangyaku wants to see you."

So that's what she meant by a standoff. All it would take was one bullet to be fired and carnage would ensue.

"Did he say what he wanted?"

"To negotiate."

Of course he did. He probably didn't want a bloodbath any more than Anzu did.

But now the question was: what should she do?

"Thank you," she said to the Committee member. "Stay here with us for a bit, I need to think something over before we head off."

"Yes, miss Overseer," the Committee member bowed and made her way over to Yuzu, who was currently talking to an angry looking Miho.

Anzu needed to think.

Anzu backed up into the wall of the corridor. She leant against it, and slid down until she sat on the floor. She put her hands together, and placed the tip of her index fingers against her lips. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Blocking out the senses of the world around her, Anzu entered a deep state of thought.

 _I have to go to negotiate either way, Hangyaku will just start shooting if I refuse._

 _Okay, so if I did go, what would be the possible outcomes? Could I negotiate a deal where I remain in power while he and his followers are happy? Maybe... maybe I could hire him as an ambassador of sorts? A spokesperson for the adult demographic?_

 _No, because the problem they have isn't that they don't have a voice, it's that a child is in charge. That's been the problem since the very first day we stepped foot in this vault. And they've come too far and worked too hard to just settle for a seat on the Council, they'll want all of it._

 _So... do I have to give him what he wants? Do I give Hangyaku the position of Overseer? Do I even_ want _to keep the job?_

 _Well, say if I did give him what he wants, what happens next? What happens to me? And the rest of the Council? Would he let us live as normal residents?_

 _Maybe not. After everything he's tried to do to me, maybe he wants me gone for good. He might see me as a risk to retaining his Overseer status in the future. If he could succeed in a coup, what's to say I wouldn't try one as well?_

 _So he would...execute me? No, killing a minor after they've given you what you wanted would permanently stain his public image, he would have a lot to prove as my successor, so capital punishment would scare the public._

 _So he would jail me? No. I'll always have followers of my own. I'll eventually escape, or get released. And then what? It's not like I can_ leave _the vault, so of course I would-_

 _Wait..._

 _Oh no..._

 _He wouldn't..._

 _..._

 _Yes... he would..._

* * *

Meanwhile, just when Anzu had left to go speak to the Committee member, Miho tried to follow her, but Yuzu held an arm out and shook her head.

"I want to know if this is something that we as students need to worry about," Miho said.

"Miss Nishizumi," Yuzu said, half pleading. She was beginning to crack. "Please, this isn't a movie. Let those in charge deal with the situation."

"Why can't I help, Yuzu?" Miho asked, looking straight into her eyes.

Yuzu winced as she tried to come up with a response. "Because you might get hurt..."

"And you won't? Miss Kadotani won't? _Yukari_ won't?"

"Well, actually, I would be surprised if miss Akiyam-"

"Yuzu, that's not the point!"

"Miss Nishizumi, as a member of the Council, I order you to go back to your room," Yuzu was getting impatient now.

"Miss Nishizumi," Anzu chirped as she came back, with a beaming smile on her face, "Just the person I wanted to see!"

"What?" Yuzu and Miho asked at the same time.

"I need you to do me a favour," Anzu continued.

"R-really?"

"Well, you wanted to help, didn't you?" Anzu beamed.

"I... suppose..."

"Well, here's what I need you to do. I need to go to the mess hall to meet with someone, but because tensions will be... high, I need to take Yukari with me to keep face, and I would also like Momo to come with me. All of the Committee members are also... occupied. That doesn't leave very many people I trust to do this job."

"You trust me?" Miho said, putting a hand to her chest.

"Of course I do!" Anzu splayed out her arms. And then she gestured for Miho to come closer.

Miho leant forward and Anzu wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What I need from you is to go to the storeroom with Yuzu, since she knows the code, and gather some things for me. It doesn't have to be just you two, grab some friends, people you trust, and I _mean_ trust..."

Miho's frowned with widened eyes. She might have been starting to regret this.

"What do I need to get?"

Anzu put a finger to her chin. "Some Rad-X, some RadAway, a couple of medkits, three ration boxes, some spare jumpsuits, umm..." she pondered a little longer, "A blanket, a sleeping bag, a travel cooking stove, and a bag to keep it all in."

"What's all that for?" Miho asked.

"Indeed, miss Overseer," Yuzu crossed her arms, "What is all of that for?"

"A safety precaution," Anzu grinned. "Oh, and once you've collected it all, leave it by the vault door, would you?" Before either of them could say anything else, Anzu withdrew her arm and did a little hop with a clap of her hands. "Well, those are your orders from your Overseer. Yukari! Momo! We need to get going!"

And with that, Anzu started her way to the mess hall, with the Committee member right beside her.

Momo strode after her with the rifle she had just been checking in her arms. Just as she passed Yuzu, she handed it to her with a, "Take this, hopefully you won't need it."

Yukari gave Miho one last look before sighing just quietly enough that the transmission microphone wouldn't pick it up, and walked after Anzu. The assault rifle in her power armour hands felt like a kid's toy from how light it felt with the suit's strength, and the gloves' chunky fingers struggling to fit into the trigger housing further added to that image.

Miho and Yuzu watched them for a bit before Yuzu realised they needed to get moving.

"If you just give me a moment to get all of these residents back into their rooms, miss Nishizumi, we can be on our way."

"Yes, thank you," Miho said. "Oh, but don't send Erwin, Saemonza, Azusa and Nakajima back to their rooms. I'd like them to come with us."

Yuzu gave a slight bow with a smile before directing the spectators back to their rooms.

Just then Miho got an instinctive urge to look at her Pip-Boy.

 _Quest added_

 _Who Knows What the Fates Have in Store?_

 _* Gather the requested supplies for Anzu Kadotani from the Vault 131 storeroom._

 _* Stash the supplies near the entrance to Vault 131._

 _BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Miho tutted as the Pip-Boy displayed an error message and crashed.

* * *

Anzu made her way to the mess hall, her heart pounding faster the closer they got. The more she thought about what was going to happen next, the more the butterflies in her stomach fluttered. By the time they got to the door, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Actually...

"Give me a moment, ladies," she said. She walked over to a trash chute, opened it, stuck her finger down her throat, coughed and then hurled into the compartment.

Momo rushed over and rubbed circles into her back.

"Nerves?"

"You could say that," Anzu said as she spat some remnants down the chute.

The Committee member produced a tiny bottle of water, like the sort that would fit in a mini-fridge. Without a word she offered it to Anzu.

"Thanks," the Overseer said, taking the bottle and drinking it. She swished the water around her mouth.

"I couldn't have that happening halfway through negotiations," she explained, "Best get it out the way now."

Anzu finished the bottle and threw it down the same trash chute.

She stood in front of the door to the mess hall, took a deep breath, and stepped forward. The door hissed open to her presence.

What she saw on the other side were rows of people, all Committee members, the helmet hair style betrayed them of that. Most of them were wearing flak jackets, all of them were pointing their guns down the mess hall. Some were standing, others were crouching on the tables and benches.

From the side somewhere, a ghoul approached them.

"How's things, Sodoko?" Anzu asked her in a hush.

"We've been standing like this for about ten minutes now, their arms are getting tired," she growled.

"Thank you so much for holding down the fort," Anzu took her hands into her own, which Sodoko twitched at, feeling a little uncomfortable but still appreciative of the gesture. Sodoko's hands felt like avocados.

"If had known this was happening I would've got here sooner."

"Just talk to the dickhead so we can end this."

"Sodoko! That's not like you to use such language!"

"Forgive me if looking like a full grown fetus has made me a bit jaded."

Any other time, Anzu might have been able to crack a laugh, even though Sodoko had said it with a completely serious tone. But now was not the time for laughter.

She let Sodoko's hands go. She gestured to Yukari to stay where she was, and with Momo by her side, they walked through the crowd of Committee members, which parted slightly to their presence.

"Now I know what Moses felt like," Anzu mumbled to herself.

On the other side of the crowd, which spanned the width of the mess hall, was a large patch of unoccupied land, other than the cafeteria tables and benches. On the other side of the room, also spanning the width, was the Resistance.

Every single one also pointing their gun. At them.

"This certainly is a standoff..." Anzu observed.

"The lady of the hour makes her grand appearance!"

The crowd parted, guns still trained on the entire Committee force, and Hangyaku sauntered through, his jumpsuit clean and pressed.

Anzu balled her fists at the sight of him.

"Alright, Hangyaku, what do you want?" she demanded.

Hangyaku slipped his hands into his pockets, and with a shrug of his shoulders he replied, "First, why don't we all lower our weapons first? The atmosphere feels a little tense, don't you think?"

"Not gonna happen," Anzu replied. While she certainly would've liked for the weapons to be lowered, she couldn't trust him to not have one guy ordered to keep his weapon up hidden in the crowd, or for someone to be hiding with his gun trained on her, or for him to suddenly burst out an order to fire that all his men would be anticipating and catch them off-guard. Plus, he was trying to take control of the situation.

Anzu wasn't going to let him.

Hangyaku held up his hands in defence.

"Alright, I'm just trying to make things easier," and then he gestured to a table and bench that had been rearranged to go widthways across the room, marking a halfway point in the room, acting as a sort of barrier between the two forces. "Would you have a seat?"

Anzu slipped onto the bench. Momo stood behind and just to the side of her, who had a shaky hand he was hiding behind her back.

Hangyaku sat down, on the other side of the table, opposite Anzu. Almost in synch, the two leaders laced their fingers and rested their elbows on the table.

"Now," he began, "Let's talk politics."

* * *

Miho's reasoning for choosing Erwin, Saemonza, Azusa and Nakajima was because they were already there and aware of what was going on. She didn't want to send them back to their rooms, wake up others and fill them in on what was happening. She now understood why Anzu had tried to get them to go back to their rooms; the fewer people that knew what was going on, the better; less chance of panic.

So her first order for them was to go back to their rooms and tell their roommates that everything was fine but they were needed for a little Overseer business. Plus, some of them needed to change out of their nightwear.

Oryou and Caeser were still half asleep anyway. Erwin wasn't even sure of they had properly heard her.

Aya had been suspicious of Azusa's claims, and tried asking where she was going. Azusa managed to divert her attention by saying that Aya was in charge until she got back.

None of Leopon team were bothered, Suzuki was even still asleep.

What had been tricky was Miho trying to tell Saori and Hana what was going on. Well, not Hana so much, she was still asleep. But Saori was suspicious.

"You're doing what?" she asked.

"Oh, err... miss Kadotani needs me to... do... something..." Miho stuttered.

Sitting up in her bed, Saori crossed her arms and pouted. "What is this 'something'?"

"She's a little short on hands so she needs me to collect some stock from the storeroom..."

Saori continued pouting. "Okay, then," she said, "Off you go. Don't keep her waiting."

"See you later, Takebe!"

"You too, Miporin."

 _Poor Miporin. She's so bad at lying._

And so the storeroom errand girls set off. Most of them were dressed in Vault 131 jumpsuits, and each had a Pip-Boy strapped to their wrist.

Erwin kept her German military jacket and cap, and life in the vault hadn't done anything to change her desert fox hair style. Saemonza was bringing her bow, eager to try out her skills should it come to that, with her chest protector strapped on nice and tightly. Of course, her hachimaki was also coming with her, she never left home without it tied over her head, and her left eye was glued shut.

Azusa looked just as she always did. She had combed her hair while she tried explaining to her roommates where she was going. Nakajima, in contrast, still had her bed hair; she had also abandoned the jumpsuit some days ago in favour of her mechanic's outfit, for she had grown to miss it. Miho had a fresh jumpsuit on, but she had also taken to wearing the Ooarai navy blue Tankery jacket in a similar style to Erwin.

The posse started their journey in silence. The hallways were empty, devoid of any communal life. It was still fairly early in the morning.

Then, picking up the pace to catch up with Miho to walk alongside her, Erwin spoke up, "Commander, what is it we're actually doing for Overseer Kadotani?"

"She wants us to pick up some spare supplies from the storeroom and leave them by the vault entrance," Miho answered truthfully.

"Mmhmm. And what supplies are they?"

"Oh, er..." Miho paused, brought up her Pip-Boy and flicked a few switches, "Rad-X, RadAway, medkits, ration boxes, spare jumpsuits, some camping equipment and a bag to store it all."

"Commander, don't you think that's a bit odd?"

"Honestly, Erwin, yes," Miho sighed.

"Doesn't it sound like the Overseer plans to leave the vault?"

"Yes," Miho agreed, with a little worry and fear in her voice.

"Then why are we doing this?"

"I don't want to either, Erwin, but think about it like this. The best thing that could happen is that miss Kadotani stays and we did this for nothing. The worst that could happen is that she does leave and we didn't bother."

"But shouldn't we try to convince her _not_ to leave?"

"If the Overseer intends to leave, it is for a reason," Yuzu spoke up, who was a step or two ahead, and had just been listening until now. "She wouldn't _want_ to leave, everyone knows how dangerous it is out there. If she has to, it'll be for a reason she can't control or avoid."

Erwin looked to Miho for a counterargument, still not completely convinced. All she got in response was a shrug. She pinched the bridge of her nose with a frustrated sigh.

And at that, Yuzu stopped in her tracks, spun around, balled her fists and shouted "None of us like this either, miss Matsumoto!"

And everyone stopped dead, too, dumbfounded by the usually calm Yuzu's outburst.

"You know what the president is like!" Yuzu continued, oblivious to her misuse of Anzu's position, "Once she gets an idea, we can't stop her. The best we can do is help to make sure her departure will be with as much support as we can give her!"

And the air was left hanging in silence.

Erwin pulled her cap over her eyes. "I'm sorry..." she muttered.

And from what seemed like nowhere, Saori stepped forward to put a comforting hand on Yuzu's shoulder, who was standing to get tears in her eyes.

"Takebe?" Miho acknowledged.

Saori then took Yuzu into a hug, which she accepted, wrapping her arms around Saori.

"Where did you come from?" Miho asked.

And the voice to respond was actually Hana's, from behind, "We followed you."

Everyone bar the embraced Yuzu and Saori turned to see Hana standing there in her 131 jumpsuit.

"Wh-what?" Miho stuttered, "Why?"

"Miss Takebe was worried about you, and she woke me up to tell me what you were doing and I suggested we follow," Hana replied with a soft smile.

Miho wasn't sure what to do now.

"We're coming with you, Miporin," Saori said over Yuzu's shoulder, "I overheard what you and Erwin were talking about, you could get in trouble!"

Miho winced. She didn't want too many people to come with them on this errand for the Overseer, but she also knew that Saori wouldn't take no for an answer.

"It should be alright, miss Nishizumi," the recently quiet Azusa said, suddenly appearing next to Miho and placing a comforting hand on her arm. She could see Miho was looking slightly distressed. "It's just picking up some supplies from the storeroom. The more hands the better, right?"

"Miss Isawa's got the right idea!" Saori said, and she and Yuzu parted. "Come on, Miporin, we're your friends, why refuse?"

"I..." Miho started, and then slumped her shoulders and squeaked out an, "Okay."

"Awesome!" Saori pumped a fist. "Onwards to the storeroom!"

* * *

"Indeed, Hangyaku, let's talk politics. What do you want?"

"Quite simply, my dear, I want you to step down from the chair and give me the title of Overseer. Those are my terms."

"Then what are the conditions?"

Hangyaku chuckled. "You know, if you weren't so young, I wouldn't have any problem with you being in charge. You've got some wit to you."

"You're too far in the deep end for flattery to be earning you brownie points, Hangyaku. What is in this deal for me?"

"You won't come to any harm, if that's what you're worried about," he said with a wry smile.

"Oh, so I'll get to continue living?" she asked sarcastically, though choosing her words carefully.

"Of course you will!" he smiled, fanning his hands out before lacing them back together. "What, were you expecting me to execute you? What a horrid thought."

Anzu narrowed her eyes into slits and slowly asked, "So as long as I give you the position of Overseer, my subordinates and I will continue living in the vault as normal citizens?"

Hangyaku retracted his arms and placed a hand over his heart. "Miss Kadotani, if you grant me my request, I can promise you will continue to live your life with your friends."

 _You sly dog..._

"I know what you're up to, Hangyaku," she said.

She relished in the fact that in that split second, Hangyaku looked surprised. Rubbing his hand over his scar he asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"I'll repeat the question, since you seem to be hard of hearing," she placed her hands flat on the table. "So as long as I give you the position of Overseer, my subordinates and I will continue living in the _vault_ as normal citizens?"

Hangyaku pursed his lip into a line and his eyes narrowed. Anzu could see he was trying to think of another half truth.

"What are you accusing me of, miss Kadotani?"

"Don't you dare try changing the subject, Hangyaku, you know I'm too clever for that," that might have come across as a bit arrogant, but Anzu had just found a weak spot and needed to keep looking big, "Will I, or will I not, get to continue living in the vault?"

"Yes," he said immediately.

 _Shit... what did I say wrong?_

She replayed what she had just said in her head.

 _So long as I give you the position... my subordinates and I... continue living in the vault... will I, or will I not... aha!_

"Okay then," she smirked and crossed her arms, "So I get to. What about my subordinates?"

While his expression remained stone faced, Hangyaku's eyes flashed with anger. He had hoped that she would take the deal and exploit that slip of words she had made: Will _I_...

Hangyaku sighed, shook his head, and put a hand on the table. "You're clever, miss Kadotani. You remind me of me."

"We are nothing alike."

With his head looking slightly down, he looked up with his eyes, straight into hers, almost looking through his brow. It made his eyes look very sunken. He gave a slight smile, and that expression spoke for itself: _You know we are_.

"Admit it, Hangyaku, you want me gone," Anzu didn't want to get into a debate with him of how similar they were, even though she knew it. She had even admitted as much to Momo.

"Of course I want you gone," he scoffed.

"You want me _gone_ gone. You were going to exile me from the vault once you came into power because _you_ ," she jabbed a finger at him, "don't want to risk me taking the title back!"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Can you blame me?"

"That's vile!" Momo suddenly said. "How dare you even consider-!"

"Miss Kadotani would've done the same!" Hangyaku interrupted with a raised voice, and then he looked at Anzu. "Wouldn't you?"

"We are nothing alike," she repeated, knowing where he was going with this.

"And yet you figured out what my intentions were..."

"We are nothing alike."

"...ever heard the English expression 'takes one to know one'?"

This was getting them nowhere.

Anzu leant forward. "Hangyaku, back down. You are not getting that seat."

Hangyaku sat there, drumming his fingers against the tabetop. They remained unspoken, the cough of someone from the Resistance side being the only sound heard.

"I'm sorry, miss Kadotani," he tapped his fingers in a calculated manner.

 _Taptap taptap_

"But that isn't the response I wanted."

 _Taptaptaptap taptaptap_

Hangyaku's men parted down the middle, and as they did the sounds of heavy, thudding footsteps could be heard. The hulking figure of a humanoid in samurai armour strode forward, fists gripped tightly.

* * *

The walk to the storeroom felt like it took forever. Miho couldn't help but worry at the amount of people she was bringing along for this assignment. It was a harmless assignment, sure, but she was getting a really bad feeling crawling across her skin. The fact there was currently a revolution going on somewhere in the vault didn't calm her nerves either.

 _Miho! The weather is picking up. We are going to use this chance to flank the Pravda forces._

 _Where?_

 _See this passing along the river? Take your tank and a few others and follow it and you'll end up behind enemy lines while our main force strikes the front._

 _B-but, onee-ch- err... Commander, it's thundering and the rain is coming down heavy! Is it safe for the tanks to use that path? Look at the contour lines, it's suspended a good ten feet above the river!_

 _Miss Nishizumi! Do not worry! I volunteer to come with so I can protect you!_

 _But, Koume... it's dangerous..._

 _I'm your friend, miss Nishizumi! I want to come with you! Let's win the tournament together!_

 _I... I... okay then..._

"Miho?"

Miho snapped back to Earth at the mention of her name. With her fingers laced together, she turned around to see everyone watching her, while Yuzu fiddled with a console on a wall next to a door.

"You just walked past the storeroom," Saori chuckled, pointing to the door.

"O-oh yeah," said Miho.

Yuzu finished inputting the password and the door to the storeroom opened. One by one they all filed inside.

"Alright!" Saori exclaimed, hands on her hips. "What are we looking for?"

"Um... "Miho muttered as she brought up her Pip-Boy to read out the list. "Some Rad-X, some RadAway, medkits, ration boxes, spare jumpsuits and a rucksack."

"This is where having lots of people is helpful," said Yuzu as she gazed at the hundreds of rows of tall shelves in the large room, "I'm not sure where a lot of that stuff is off by heart, not without my files."

"So we're just going to have to search?" asked Azusa.

"I'm afraid so," Yuzu frowned.

"What about the sealed boxes?" Nakajima asked, walking up to a shelf with a pristine cardboard box on it and running her hand across it.

"They'll be labelled," Yuzu answered. "Open them if you have to."

Saemonza glanced toward Yuzu, looking quite serious with her straight mouth, closed eye and a bow in her hands. "How dangerous is this mission?"

"Oh, err... why do you ask?"

Saemonza nodded to the assault rifle in Yuzu's hands that she forgot she had been holding.

"Oh..." she muttered. "Well... I don't think it's likely that we'll be attacked but... if we are, some self defence certainly would be nice."

"Would you like me to take the gun, miss Koyama?" Erwin asked. "You don't seem comfortable with it."

"Are you trained in firearms?" Yuzu asked nervously.

"I've been airsofting. That's not going to earn me any licenses, I know, but I am aware how to safely handle a gun and not blow my own head off," she finished with a smirk.

Yuzu was somewhat relieved. Truth be told, she had next to no firearms training. She had only been shown how to safely clear and handle one, but she had never fired one and didn't really want to, especially not at somebody else.

"Okay, then," she said.

Erwin turned to Miho. "Commander, I recommend that I stay near the door for first contact purposes."

"I volunteer for the front line, as well," Saemonza added.

Miho's spirits were raised by just a little bit at the humorous dialect of the two reki-jo. "I think that's a good idea," she nodded, "But... be careful, okay? Don't be heroes, don't get yourselves hurt."

"Understood, Commander," said Saemonza and Erwin simultaneously.

"And the rest of us, miss Nishizumi?" asked Azusa.

"We will look for the supplies for miss Kadotani. Find what you can and bring it back here. We'll designate rows of shelves between the six of us to cover as much ground as possible. okay?"

"Right!" came the response.

* * *

The frowning helmet did its job beautifully of radiating fear into every enemy unit. Every Committee member froze in horror at the sight of the advancing hulk. Mouths slightly parted in disbelief, muzzles started to dip as they absentmindedly loosened their grip on their guns.

Even Anzu and Momo were left dumbfounded as the power armour emerged from the crowd. She should say something. She should give the order to shoot. It wouldn't do anything to the armour but it'd get some chaos stirring. But she couldn't move, seeing her doom physically approach left her paralysed.

The armour stomped forwards. Hangyaku rose from his seat, smirking delightedly at the sight of Anzu left speechless. As it approached the table, the armour rose a fist, bracing for the strike that would end Anzu's life in an instant.

And suddenly, the armour was flying backwards, as a second suit of power armour made contact at eighty kilometres an hour.

The mass of metal quickly touched ground from the weight and the two suits slid down the gap that was still parted in the crowd of Resistance members, screeching along the floor and coming to a halt.

Everyone watched the event unfold and were all left dumbfounded at the sight, many mouths were agape. Anzu had completely forgotten about Yukari. She got so riled up over Hangyaku and was left so scared as she watched a power armour suit approach her with the intent to kill her, she had forgotten she was commanding a power armour suit of her own.

She snapped her jaw shut, turned at the waist to address her Committee members and gave one clear, concise order.

"Fire!"

She swung her legs over the bench and dashed back to the safety of her subordinates, grabbing Momo's wrist as she did.

"Fire!" Sodoko from somewhere repeated.

"Fire!" Hangyaku roared at his own men, dashing back to them.

As guns were cocked, a few individuals from both sides that had been given orders prior, started flipping over tables to provide a semblance of cover. The mess hall tables were thick and well built enough to sustain several hundred years of several generations of vault residents, so both sides had the confidence they were strong enough to stop a speeding bullet.

Meanwhile, Yukari and the other power armour suit came to a halt behind the entire Resistance force. When Yukari saw over all the heads of the Committee members that a second power armour suit had emerged from the Resistance's ranks, she panicked. She knew that no bullet could stop it, and it had been making a bee line for miss Anzu.

So she did the only thing she could think to do. Panicking, she literally leapt into action. She barraged through the ranks, shoving people out the side as delicately as she could, and once she was in front of all them all, he activated the pistons in the armour's legs.

Her only intention was to just stop the enemy power armour suit from hurting miss Anzu. Now she was in a heap with it behind enemy lines.

The rebel suit shoved her off. The suit's strength was enough to pick up one of its own as easily as a human picking up another person. Yukari flopped onto her back as she was shoved off. The suit's HUD display flickered. She only just noticed she could see a triangle in the sides of her vision pointing in the direction of rebel suit.

Mere seconds later heard the shouted orders of Anzu, Sodoko and Hangyaku, and a cacophony of rattling assault rifles sounded. In her peripheral vision she saw the rebel suit getting up.

What did she do now?

The suit stood up fully and turned to look at her. The frowning face of the samurai helmet filling her with fear.

How should she react?

The suit reached down and grabbed her by the neck and started to hoist her up.

She was going to have to fight another power armour suit, wasn't she?

Yukari grimaced, balled her hand into a fist and uppercutted.

The strike connected, and in contrast to the usual reaction to being hit by a power armour punch, the rebel suit simply stumbled backward, dropping Yukari.

She collapsed to her knees, a hand landing flat on the ground to brace her. She spotted her gun at her feet, she must've forgotten to grip it while she was being picked up, a forgivable mistake for a novice power armour user. She was about to pick it up, but she spotted the rebel suit striding forward and swinging with a right hook. She rose to her feet and held up an arm to block the strike and the two motor powered arms connected.

Even in the radiation sealed, bulletproof super armour, the sound of the two metal arms connecting gonged in her ears.

The rebel suit followed up with an uppercut from his other arm. Yukari reflexively twisted in the hopes the strike would brush past her, but she forgot she was the size of a fridge. The punch clipped her abdomen and she stumbled backward, the little power armour sprite display in the corner of her vision flashing red in its torso area.

Yukari was glad she wasn't fighting someone without the suit on. Whoever was in that suit, they were clearly just as inexperienced as she was. Their movements were robotic and simple, and they rarely ever moved one limb at a time. If she was fighting someone while they were both out of their suits, she'd be flattened.

The rebel suit stepped forward in an attempt to follow up the strike with another jab. She sidestepped while holding her hands up defensively, and the attack missed. But she stepped straight into somebody else. Her sudden movement and her large, solid metal build meant it was like hitting the guy in the back of the head with a shovel, and he fell flat forwards.

The feeling of impact caused her to reflexively look behind her to see what she'd hit.

She briefly saw the entire collective Resistance force scrambling around, dashing, diving, ducking and crawling all over this side of the mess hall behind overturned tables, taking potshots at the Committee members on the other side, which returned in kind. Stray bullets from the Committee were occasionally pinging off her armour.

Seeing an opening, the rebel suit stepped toward her, bent a leg at the knee and jabbed it forward.

In the split second she looked behind her, Yukari remembered she was meant to be fighting and turned back to see-

The foot connected and she tumbled onto her back. Not even a power armour suit could stand up to the mighty boot of another power armour suit.

Yukari could've sworn she landed on top of someone but didn't want to check. She didn't have time to anyway. The rebel suit was striding toward her with purpose. She had a brilliant flash of inspiration.

The rebel suit squared up to her downed body and went to bend down to grab her. Yukari squatted her legs and placed both her legs against the rebel suit's chest...

And activated the piston release mechanism.

The following _clang_ was louder than the collective sound of assault rifle shots. The rebel suit was launched into the air and flailed as best they could with the restricting suit they were wearing, and they clotheslined their head on the ceiling, flipping upside down and splatting against the wall at the end of the mess hall.

Yukari was now for sure that there had been someone underneath her, she sunk further toward the ground as whatever she had been lying on was crushed underneath her several tons of weight, further pushed down by the pistons striking the rebel suit.

Yukari got up, and saw the rebel suit was in a heap on the floor ahead. They were instinctively clutching their chest as they rose to their feet. Yukari wasted no time and charged for the suit.

It didn't see her coming as she shoulder barged it, pinning it against the wall. She wind a fist back and jabbed it forward, but they caught it in their hand. As Yukari tried to pull her arm free, she didn't notice the rebel suit raising its leg and pressing the flat of its foot against her stomach.

Her heart skyrocketed as the shock of suddenly flying backward terrified her. Bowling a few unlucky individuals over, she was in the air for a good couple of seconds before touching ground and screeching across the floor. She reached out with a hand to grab at anything and the tips of her fingers produced sparks and she tried to grab the flat floor.

She impacted a sideways table, dragging it along with her before coming to a halt in the no-man's-land between the two forces, colliding with a second table and bench arrangement which was the one Anzu and Hangyaku had been sat at minutes before.

Gunfire had noticeable slowed down as both sides witnessed this event. A clean path had been carved through the mass of Resistance members. The rebel suit made a dash down it, each hurried step stomping loudly.

* * *

In the storeroom, those who weren't guarding the entrance had been split into teams of two and assigned a random shelving row, and they were to walk from one end t the other trying to find anything that was on their shopping list.

Miho and Azusa were halfway up their row. They hadn't found anything, but earlier they did hear an excited cry from Hana and Saori when they found the medkits.

Miho was absentmindedly tracing her eyes over the labels of the boxes and only vaguely taking in the shape of loose products on the shelves. Noticing this, Azusa spoke up.

"Is something wrong, miss Nishizumi? You've seem troubled for a while."

"Oh, sorry, Azusa, I'm... just worried."

"About what?"

"I just have a bad feeling about what's coming and I can't shake it," Miho frowned.

"Is that all, though?"

The question caught Miho somewhat off guard. "Wh-what?"

"Well, you seem too troubled to just be having a bad feeling."

"I suppose I'm also worried for miss Kadotani's safety. And I'm worried about Yukari, what with the coup going on at the moment. I hope she's okay..."

* * *

From within her suit, looking down at the floor, Yukari groaned. The piston had made a large dent in the stomach of her power armour, and she could felt the bulge pressing against her belly uncomfortably. The power armour sprite in the corner of her vision now had a solid red torso, and one of the legs had turned orange at some point.

She noticed the arrow indicator bobbing up and down, indicating toward the rebel suit. She looked up and saw it jogging after her (for running was next to impossible in this heavy armour).

She placed her hands on the ground. While one found the flat metal floor, the other slipped off the leg of an overturned table. Gripping it, she slowly climbed to her knees to seem injured and tired, keeping her head hanging. Once she was on her knees, she clutched her stomach to add to the facade.

And when they were close enough, she swung as hard as she could. The table's arc was wide, and the wearer of the rebel suit was left surprised as it struck them in the side, a _gong_ ringing out. Yukari reeled it back and swung again.

The rebel suit flailed an arm and made contact with the table. It was snatched out of Yukari's grip and went spinning through the air towards the Committee side. It struck someone in the head, thankfully they were all wearing helmets.

Yukari and her opponent continued to trade strikes and blows as bullets whizzed around them. They were a real distraction to the soldiers, causing the exchange of lead to slow. The two were ducking, dodging and striking. They were as good at each other at controlling the suit, and there was no obvious eventual victor.

The rebel suit made for a grab with both arms. Yukari snatched his wrists and twisted at the waist to haul them to the ground like a wrestle. The suit wasn't quite up for hauling _that_ much weight and so the rebel armour fell forwards, with Yukari dragging them along the ground by their wrists.

And it was right then when Yukari's HUD turned red. A warning message appeared right in front of her face reading 'WARNING: IMMINENT HEAT OVERLOAD'

Yukari hadn't realised it until that message pointed it out, but the inside of the suit was _boiling_. Her face was drenched in sweat, her fluffy hair was clumping from moisture and sticking to bits of her face.

"Wh-wh... what is this?" she panicked.

On the ground, the rebel suit swiped at her legs with the back of its hand and she dropped. It climbed on top of her and went for a few jabs to the face. At first, with the stupid warning message in her face, Yukari couldn't see what they were doing, and by the time she did, she tried to hold her hands out in defence but it was too late.

The first fist strike came crashing down onto her face. She reflexively shut her eyes as tight as she could. Even in the helmet she felt her skull rattle from the impact. She flailed an arm to try and get them off, but it barely made contact, and they were pinning her down. The suit wasn't going to budge.

In desperation she activated the piston in one her legs. It uselessly struck empty air, but the warning message disappeared and the HUD turned back to its original colour. Only then did Yukari notice the suit sprite was red on its torso, helmet and the arm the suit was pinning down with its knee.

A second strike from the fist and a crack formed in the visors. Yukari started to panic.

"No! No! No! Nononono!"

The rebel suit dug its fingers into her neck and ripped the helmet off. She gasped as she felt a rush of cold air as the heat was flushed out of the suit. The rebel suit wind back its arm once again. It flexed its fingers as it curled them into a fist.

And then a bullet pinged off the side of its head.

What was strange is that it was the only bullet that could be heard. In their struggle, neither had noticed that all the shooting had stopped.

The rebel suit looked in the direction of the attacker, its fist still prepped to end Yukari's life.

It was Hangyaku, still aiming down the sights of his pistol.

"Touch her again and there will be consequences," he said.

And straight away the rebel suit dropped the arm and stood up, its knee releasing Yukari's arm.

Yukari breathed a sigh of relief and let her head drop, hitting the floor which was welcomingly cool.

The rebel suit reached to its helmet and pulled it off. The man inside breathed delightedly as, he too, was blessed with cool air. It wasn't anyone Yukari recognised. The person inside was just a man. A member of the rebels.

"Yukari, are you okay?" Anzu had approached Yukari's body and knelt down beside her.

"Yes... miss Anzu, I'm... okay..." Yukari huffed from the heat.

Anzu didn't feel like pointing out there were tears in Yukari's eyes.

"Miss Kadotani," Hangyaku had also approached, standing on the other side of Yukari's body. "The cease fire was called, we let our best men settle the battle for us, and I even showed mercy to your friend. I think the best you can do now is-"

"Shut up, Hangyaku," Anzu spat.

Hangyaku's face flashed with anger. "You disrespectful little-!"

"You didn't let me finish," Anzu interrupted again, "I'll go. I'll respect your kindness. Congratulations. The vault is yours."

* * *

"Oh, look!" Azusa exclaimed, as she reached out with both hands to grab a sealed box with a sticker on the side that read JUMPSUITS.

"Oh, well done, miss Isawa!" Miho smiled. "We found the jumpsuits!" she called out to the others.

"And we found a rucksack!" Nakajima shouted back.

"Let's take this back to the front," Azusa said, followed by a grunt as she pulled down the surprisingly heavy box of clothes.

"Here, Azusa, let me," Miho held out her hands to take the box.

"Don't worry, miss Nishizumi, I've got it!" the young girl grinned.

Miho smiled back and they started retracing their steps back to the front of the storeroom. Along the way, Hana and Saori announced they found some ration boxes. When they arrived, they placed the box in a pile next to some medkits, which came with sealed packs of Rad-X and RadAway. Nakajima and Yuzu showed up moments after with a fairly decent sized hiking rucksack.

Azusa frowned at the sight of the survival gear at their feet.

"It looks kind of sad when you see it all here," she said.

Everyone had been thinking it. While the idea of Anzu leaving the vault was a little unsettling (if that was indeed what she had planned), it became just a little bit more real when they saw all the supplies they were going to be giving her. The rucksack, two medkits with extra medicine for radiation poisoning, boxes containing pouched meals with powdered drinks and other kinds of snacks, and an extra change of clothes.

"We... we are going to try convincing her to stay, right?" Azusa asked.

"Of course we are," Yuzu responded. "This is just... just in case."

After a bit more searching, they eventually found blankets - which were in the far corner of the room for some reason - a camping cooking stove with a pot and a sleeping bag.

Nakajima and Erwin took the responsibility of packing the rucksack, they were good at space efficiency. They needed to open the ration boxes and spill all of the contents into sealed plastic bags that came in each box, and they couldn't fold the jumpsuits or blanket since stuffing them into cracks and gaps would save space, but they managed to get everything inside. The sleeping bag was attached to the back by weaving the clip straps through some woven small bungee cords.

"Jesus, the bag's almost as tall as miss Kadotani is," Erwin grunted as she stood the bag up.

That was all anyone said. Nobody felt like laughing, or reciprocating. They just stood there, thinking of Anzu leaving the vault.

"Let's take it to the vault entrance, then," said Miho, trying to muster up some cheeriness. Morale died with its commander's, after all.

"Nakajima, gimme a hand," said Erwin, as she turned around, bent her knees and hooked her wrists under the rucksack's shoulder straps.

Nakajima grabbed either side of it and they both grunted as they hoisted it up together onto Erwin's back.

"Straps are comfy and padded on the shoulders," Erwin observed, "Very adjustable," she gave a little hop as she yanked on the straps to tighten it to her shoulders, "Even comes with a waist clip," she finished as she attached the two halves of the clip together.

"Is that important?" Azusa asked.

"Are you kidding?!" Erwin asked, "Have you ever been hiking?"

"No..."

"For long distance travel, you want all the weight to be resting on your hips, rather than pulling your shoulders down," to prove a point, Erwin slid her arms out of the shoulder straps and leant forward slightly so the rucksack wouldn't tip backwards. It sat comfortably on her back, all the weight supported on the strap around Erwin's waist.

"Oh, I see," Azusa answered, though she didn't really. She didn't see how much of a difference it could make. "But won't your hips get tired?"

"Not really," Erwin answered as she slid her arms back in. "Sore? Yes, from all the rubbing. Tired? Unlikely. The weight is on your pelvis, which is made of bone. Bones don't get tired, muscles do."

Miho gave a light giggle. "Are we finished with our camping lesson, miss Erwin?"

Erwin stuck her tongue out at her.

Some of the girls giggled. Spirits had been lifted.

At least a little.

* * *

The door to the vault entrance control room hissed open. Anzu stepped forward, not wanting to receive another uncomfortable shove to the back of the head from one of the men escorting her. Amongst them was one man, Hangyaku and a power armour suit. She couldn't fathom why Hangyaku thought he had to bring one of those along.

Momo came with her, as did Yukari, both wanted to say goodbye. None of them had said anything to each other on the way from the mess hall. Anzu wasn't sure _what_ to say. She knew Momo was upset, she could see she was trying to hold back tears.

Yukari occasionally winced as her stomach was given a jolt of pain from the bruise of getting jackhammer kicked. Other than that, she had no serious injuries, the power armour suit had made sure of that. She had to keep her back straight so she didn't slouch and trigger the pain. She was too distracted by trying to keep good posture to think about anything else.

Momo, however, was feeling a mix of lots of overpowering emotions, which were all filling up her mental limits like a jug. Any moment, and the jug was going to overflow and she would ball her eyes out and sob for probably hours. It was taking all of her willpower to keep her composure.

She was furious at Anzu for giving up the vault.

But she also respected her because she knew she did it so there would be no more injuries.

She was distraught at the thought of her going.

But also knew it would be unsafe for her to stay here, constantly under the watchful eye of the new Overseer.

But the outside was dangerous. Would Anzu be okay?

Momo wasn't sure.

The vault control room was left mostly untouched since the first day they arrived. Nobody had any reason to ever go inside. The whole vault was built into a cave, and there a few steps going down a metre or two that marked the end of artificial vault flooring and the beginning of the natural cave ground.

A few feet beyond that was the large bank-like vault door, sealed shut, with the number '131' painted on the front. Besides the few steps on the landing was the control console, with buttons and levers.

"Well, miss Kadotani," Hangyaku cheerful voice spoke up, "I guess this is goodbye."

Anzu turned to look at him and wish she hadn't. She was crossing his arms with a triumphant smirk on his face. She could just punch him. That attitude of being so proud of one's victory. "Sore winners" she liked to call them. Last time she saw it was when she had to speak to the MEXT representative when asking him why they closed the school when they said they wouldn't.

And it was too much.

"For now," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"It's goodbye for now, Hangyaku, but mark my words, this will come back to bite you later."

"I'll be waiting," he said sarcastically.

Anzu balled her fist.

"Anyway," Hangyaku sighed, and then nodded to the man beside him, "Open the door."

The man stepped up to the console and brought up some notes on his Pip-Boy to figure out what configuration of buttons to press to get the door to open.

Anzu took the opportunity to say goodbye to Momo and Yukari. She turned to face them, who were standing a couple of feet away from her, side by side each other.

"Akiyama... and... K-kawashima"

Momo sniffed.

"Th...thank you for everything," Anzu finished.

Momo grimaced, the tears trying to burst free. Yukari closed her eyes and frowned, dropping her head and keeping a hand on her stomach.

"Oh don't worry, Kadotani," Hangyaku interrupted, "They're going with you."

Anzu snapped her neck to shoot a glance of pure malice to Hangyaku.

" _What_?!"

In contrast, Momo and Yukari shot him a look of terror. Some tears that managed to escape from Momo silently streaked down her cheeks.

"They've broken the law," Hangyaku stated.

" _What law_?!" Anzu growled.

"My first law as Overseer: Any individual found to be colluding with the first Overseer, Anzu Kadotani, shall be found guilty of treason against the vault and be given the ultimate punishment: exile," he recited the law perfectly, as if he really was reading it off a contract or from a law book.

" _Hangyaku_! _Y_ - _You_..." Anzu stopped and desperately looked around the room, having just remembered what she asked Miho to do. She couldn't see the rucksack anywhere. Not beside the console, not at the base of the vault door, not in any of the corners, so... she hadn't been here yet.

 _Oh god... Miho..._

"Something the matter, miss Kadotani?" Hangyaku asked with fake concern.

At that moment, the man had finished pressing the right buttons and the door started to unlock itself.

Anzu glanced over at Momo and Yukari. She now struggling herself to hold back tears as she considered the fact she might be bringing all of her most trusted friends along with her.

"Hangyaku!" she growled, raising her voice so it could be heard over the sound of grinding gears, "This was not part of the deal! You said that if I-"

"NO!" he bellowed, silencing her. "We negotiated that deal before any punches were thrown! I offered you my terms and you refused! And then you lost the conflict, and simply said you give me the rights to the vault. You are in no position to negotiate terms now, miss Kadotani!"

Anzu couldn't believe it. She felt awful. She really _did_ just hand Hangyaku the vault without negotiating. She had let her friends down.

The door into the room opened and Miho and her posse entered, Erwin still carrying the rucksack on her back with the gun in her hands and Saemonza with her bow drawn.

"Nishizumi!" Anzu shouted. "Leave! You are not needed here!" She said this in a desperate attempt to try showing Miho wasn't involved with her at all.

"Miss Nishizumi..." Yukari squeaked as she, too, came to the realisation of what could happen.

Everyone coming into the room stopped in their tracks at the sight.

"Well, well!" Hangyaku purred, "What do we have here?"

Miho took a step back, a hand to her chest.

"Hold it right there!" Hangyaku ordered, "None of you are going anywhere!"

The power armour suit off to the side tapped his foot to alert the girls of his presence.

"State your business here!" Hangyaku ordered.

Miho didn't know how to respond. "I..."

"They have nothing to do with this, Hangyaku!" Anzu lied. "They are here purely by coincidence! They-"

"Arrest them," Hangyaku ordered, and the power armour started walking toward them.

"NO!" Anzu screamed. "Hangyaku! Please! I'll do anything! Please not them!"

Erwin made a move to raise her gun at Hangyaku.

"Put that fucking thing down now or you will face capital punishment," Hangyaku ordered, unfaltered, the scar on his neck starting to pulse.

Before Erwin could do anything else, the power armour reached out with a large hand and grabbed the rifle and ripped it from her grip. She almost fell over forward from the rucksack on her back.

"All of you! Get in this room! NOW!"

Anzu cried, the sobbing and tears falling down her face a testament to the fear she was currently experiencing. Momo reached out and grabbed her hand, to comfort herself as well as Anzu.

The girls had no choice but to comply with Hangyaku's order and all filed into the room, every single one of them looking terrified.

"Oh!" Hangyaku acknowledged as he saw Yuzu. "Koyama is with them!" he looked back at Anzu, "And they have a gun!" and then he looked to Erwin, "And they look ready to venture out into the wasteland!" And then he turned to the man at the console. "This looks like collusion with the ex-Overseer, does it not?"

"Yessir," the man nodded.

"Ex-Overseer...?" Yuzu breathed.

"Hangyaku..." Anzu croaked. "Please..."

The vault door finished opening, setting into place with a _thunk_.

Hangyaku then addressed the girls - Miho, Saori, Hana, Yuzu, Erwin, Saemonza, Azusa and Nakajima - one last time.

"I find you guilty of colluding with the previous Overseer, Anzu Kadotani..."

Anzu pressed herself against Momo, burying her face into her chest.

"... and I sentence upon you the ultimate punishment. You are all hereby banned from this vault."

" _What_?!" half of them wailed.

Miho was suddenly struck by a thousand yard stare as she peered through the open vault door into the dark cave beyond.

"There will be no arguments!" Hangyaku shouted, his voice louder than any desperate cries the young girls could muster. "NOW LEAVE MY VAULT!"

The power armour suit stomped its foot. Loudly.

Some of the girls jumped at the sound, all of them struck silent.

"But you may keep the bag and whatever assortments you have inside it. Let it be known that Hangyaku is not without mercy."

"Mercy?" Saori shouted. "You horrible man! We have done nothing wrong! How could you-?"

"You have been found colluding with the previous Overseer. Was my sentencing not clear enough for you? Now leave my vault before I _really_ lose my temper!"

Some of the girls glanced at the power armour suit. The frowning samurai helmet did its job.

"Guys..." said Yukari, and they all looked at her. Most of them hadn't noticed she was there, in her state of hunched over, gripping her stomach, hair in a mess after drying from sweat. "You can't fight back. That thing will hurt you if it needs to..."

"You should take her advice," said Hangyaku.

The girls stepped forward, tentatively. Some of them were shaking. Hana had to pull Miho along by the arm as she realised they were leaving her behind. Both Saemonza's eyes were open, and she was secretly ecstatic he hadn't confiscated her bow. Yukari walked up to meet them, letting most of them walk by her so she could join Hana and Miho at the back.

Anzu continued sobbing into Momo's chest. Yuzu approached them, and offered her hand to Momo, who took it. Anzu pulled away and saw Yuzu offering her her other hand. She took it. They stepped in front of the other girls, trying to be leaders until the end.

The girls slowly descended the few steps, their feet touching rocky ground for the first time since entering the vault. Every step they took toward the open vault exit was slower than the last, as their desire to stay became stronger and stronger.

"Before I die of old age, ladies."

Anzu grimaced, grinding her teeth together.

Azusa started to sniff and cry, too. Saori put a hand on her shoulder as they walked. She was trying to hold back tears herself.

And one by one, they stepped over the boundary, over the large metal vault door frame. A crackling suddenly started sounding from Anzu's, Momo's and Yuzu's Pip-Boys. Their Geiger counters were going off.

And finally, the last people, Hana and Miho - the latter still being pulled along because of her oblivious state - stepped through the door into the cave.

The vault door started to grind shut again.

Anzu looked down. She sniffed. She closed her eyes tight to squeeze the last tears out. And with newfound determination, she took her hands away from her two best friends, wiped her eyes, turned around and pushed her way through the group.

Just as the vault door was halfway through closing, Anzu stood on its border, and looked Hangyaku straight in the eye. He was slouching his shoulders with his hands in his pockets, like he was just waiting for a bus. He stared back.

"Mark my words, Hangyaku," Anzu started, "I will not forget this. And whether it takes me until tomorrow or twenty years from now, I will find you. And I will kill you."

Hangyaku smirked. He pulled a hand out of his pocket...

... and waved as the vault door sealed itself shut.

A moment of silence passed. Well, not complete silence. Some of the girls' Pip-Boys further down the cave were crackling their Geiger counters. Emergency lights on either side of the vault door were providing a small degree of soft light.

"S-so..." Azusa spoke up, her voice echoing, "What do we do now?"

"We carry on," said Miho. All eyes turned to her, except Anzu, who was hanging her head, both hands pressed against the vault door. Nobody had realised Miho had snapped out of her shocked state, thus it was a surprise to hear her speak again.

"We carry on," Miho repeated, "We can't give up now. As a team, we've never given up before and it's proven to work for us in the past," one by one, smiles started to return to their faces as their commander inspired them with her words, "We need to work together now, more than we ever have done before. We need to be there for each other. We need to help each other. We need to..." she breathed in as she prepared to lay out the harsh reality, "We need to survive together."

"That's our Nishizumi," Yukari beamed.

"I'll follow you anywhere, Commander," Erwin saluted.

"To the ends of the Earth," Saemonza agreed.

"We might just have a chance with you around, Miporin," Saori croaked, wiping away her tears and her snotty nose.

"Yes, miss Takebe is right, miss Nishizumi," Azusa gave a small smile, secretly the most terrified out of everyone.

"Together as a team!" said Hana.

"It's just the apocalypse!" Nakajima pumped a fist, "We'll be fine!"

Miho smiled, feeling a little bashful.

"Miss Nishizumi..." a small voice spoke out.

With everyone crowding around her, Miho couldn't see who it was. Some parted to show Anzu, with Momo and Yuzu standing either side of her, all three of them looking utterly drained.

"Miss Kadotani..." Miho acknowledged.

"Guys..." Anzu started again, "We... I mean, _I_ am so sorry that you all had to be dragged into this."

"Miss Kadotani, it's not-"

"It is, Miho," Anzu interrupted her. "It is my fault. You are all standing out here because of my actions... and my _in_ actions. I hope I can... I hope I can make it up to you all..." her voice was cracking.

They stood there, nobody was sure how to respond, or what to say next.

"Umm, I'm sorry for interrupting..." Azusa squeaked, looking at her Pip-Boy, "But... isn't it dangerous for us to be standing here intaking this radiation?"

"Shit!" Erwin cried, "We've got to move! No time to stand around feeling sorry for ourselves!"

"Miss Erwin is right," Miho nodded, "We need to get moving. We need to find shelter, a source of food, and we need to get out of this radiation."

"Onwards!" Yukari pointed dramatically down the cave, and started to make her way to the upward slope that would lead to the mouth of the cave.

"Right behind you, Guderian!" Erwin cried, he rucksack still attached to her back.

Miho smiled. In this time of desperation, a good attitude was exactly what they would need to get through this. Not everyone was happy, that much was obvious just by looking at the defeated expressions of Anzu, Yuzu and Momo. But, she had hope.

Hope that they would survive.

As she took her own first step forward, her Pip-Boy lit up. Looking at it, text typed itself onto the screen.

 _Quest failed_

 _Who Knows What the Fates Have in Store?_

She frowned, and was just about to object to an inanimate object before something else appeared on-screen.

 _New quest added_

 _Home On the Wastes_

 _* Survive_

* * *

 **Chapter and first quest title: Lyric extracts from** _ **Something's Gotta Give**_ **.**

 **Second quest title: Song title from** _ **Fallout: New Vegas.**_

 **A/N:**

 **So, another reason I made this chapter extra long is because it's the conclusion to the first arc. I'm going to split this story into parts, think of them as seasons like from a show.**

 **But what does this mean? Well, this means the story is going to be put on hold... again. But it's actually scheduled to be put on hold this time. I'm doing this for two reasons:**

 **A) I will always aim to write the end of the arc to be conclusive in some way, so if I ever get bored of the story and want to stop writing, I would have left it at a conclusive point and won't leave future readers hanging. Like this one: the vault arc has reached its conclusion. We had our setup, anticipation, climax and the villain won.**

 **B) Arcs will be about 10-12 chapters (ideally). I will likely start to lose my creative spark and drive to write around 8 chapters in (I have the attention span of a fruit fl- ooh, a squirrel). I know this will happen because it HAS happened, I got a little bored a few chapters ago, and I felt they were losing quality. So time in between arcs is some time for me to get my creative spark back while the story is on an intended hiatus.**

 **C) I can spend time in between arcs writing a backlog of chapters. I have a busy life, I usually only get time to write on the weekends and just before going to bed, so I want to create a backlog. I think I wrote the first five chapters for this arc before I started releasing any. This way, if my writing ever slows down, it shouldn't matter too much. That's the theory anyway, this arc still proved that my release schedule can catch up to me and bite me.**

 **This arc has taught me it can be important to plan. I usually write my stories as I go, relying on my imagination and creativity to guide me. It's usually worked, but I'm already starting to dislike a LOT of what I've done with this arc because of my lack of foresight. If I ever re-write it, I'll spend more time establishing the Resistance and its members (maybe even give some of them besides Hangyaku names! Gasp!), and re-write a lot of chapter 7, I think that's the weakest chapter of the lot.**

 **So, what did you guys think of the first arc? I liked writing it. I would also like to hear what you think about Hangyaku, I'm quite proud of him as a villain, I tried to write as despicable as possible, but being despicable for a reason. He's not being a bastard for its own sake, he's being a bastard because he genuinely believes its in his best interest, and by extension, the people of the vault.**

 **Oh, and I'll be updating chapter 7 with mentions of vaults if/when I release arc 2. That's mostly for new time readers, I'll add the new vaults into the A/N of chapter 12 and any chapters after as I add even more.**

 **TL;DR: Story will be split into arcs. I'm taking breaks in-between arcs to create a backlog of chapters. I'd love to hear what you think of this arc, the story, and especially Hangyaku! New vault mentions are going to be added to chapter 7, though the A/N of future chapters will mention ones I added in retrospect.**

 **This is MarsAres signing out!**


End file.
